My Head-On Collision With Life
by StarshineGoomba
Summary: Re-do of "My Happy Ending". After losing her father, Mary Williams grew up in a broken home, with a step-father that she hated. When she is attacked at thirteen, her life is turned upside down. Can her friends keep her together? Will she allow herself to find love? Rated M for language, mild violence, and sexual situations. - Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again! ^_^ For those of you who read "My Happy Ending", and yes, I know that there was a lot of you, this is basically the same exact story. For those of you wondering why I canceled the sequel "If You're Gonna Jump" and am now doing this re-write, it's simple; MHE became a twisted mess and I knew that I could do better. When I started to write it, I didn't have the plot fully planned out, and in the end, it became my version of what happened on RAW and SmackDown each week with a few oddly placed flashbacks thrown in. That confused even me. This time around, I will be using the same method I have been using with other stories featuring Mary. I will start with what I now refer to as "canon" for Mary, which is the bio that I have written for her, and have linked in my profile. Then the story will begin with where things begin to change, and go on from there. I will be doing just that with this. Knowing this, for those of you familiar with MHE, this will start when Mary is very young, and I hope to do it all in chronological order. I hope that you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the WWE, nor any of it's employees. I do, however, own Mary Williams, her family, and the plot of this story.**

**I also made a little soundtrack for the story. Instead of putting them in an order for a playlist, the tracks are listed in alphabetical order, by artist.**

Bonnie McKee - Trouble

Brandy - Best Friend  
>Christina Aguilera - Hurt<p>

Cults - You Know What I Mean  
>Emily Osment - The Game (The Cycle - Acoustic version)<p>

Eminem ft. Sia - Beautiful Pain  
>Evanescence - Going Under<br>Fefe Dobson - We Went For a Ride  
>Flyleaf - I'm So Sick <strong>(Mary's Entrance Theme)<strong>  
>Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude<p>

Jules Larson & AG - Girl With No Name

Ke$ha - Blind  
>Limp Bizkit - The One<br>P!nk - Don't Let Me Get Me  
>Paramore - The Only Exception<br>Taylor Swift - Haunted

The Rescues - Be My Cure

Young Summer - Fever Dream  
>ZZ Ward - Til The Casket Drops (PLL Version)<br>ZZ Ward - Better Off Dead **(Chickbusters Entrance Theme)**

* * *

><p>Maryanne Alexis Williams was just five years old when she attended her first wrestling event. Her father had been a part of the WWE for a couple of years, but he was only managing with his friend, The Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, at the second annual SummerSlam in August of 1989. It was agreed that everyone who had children, would be bringing them along for the event. Mary's younger brother, Alexander Levi, was the youngest among the group, being only three years-old at the time. She met a whole group of kids around her age that night, including Ted DiBiase, Junior. Mary and Ted got along extremely well. So well, in fact that their fathers joked that they may be getting married someday. A couple of days later, Mary was enjoying some time at home with her dad. Something that she didn't get often. As Mary and her brother were getting ready to watch a movie with their dad, they noticed that he had been taking an awful long time getting popcorn when they heard a loud crash.<p>

Mary bit her lip, looking to her younger brother. "Stay here, Levi. I will be right back." Mary kissed her brother's cheek before walking toward the kitchen, seeing that the popcorn was ready, but her father was no where in sight. "Daddy?" The five year-old called out, beginning to look for him. She noticed that the door leading to the garage was wide open, which wasn't normal at all, seeing as how she and her brother weren't allowed in there without one of their parents. She bit her lip as she carefully stepped into the garage. "Daddy?" She began looking around, noticing that everything looked much bigger when she was alone in there. She kept looking, seeing that something had fallen over. She walked over to see that it was her father's work bench, and he was trapped underneath it, with a pool of red stuff around him. She knelt beside him, not realizing that she was kneeling in his blood, shaking him a little. "Daddy? Daddy, wake up!" She shook him a little more. "Daddy!" She got up, her dress covered in blood as she ran into the house. "Mommy!" she shrieked, looking for her mother. "Mommy, Daddy is hurt," she found her mother, standing in the doorway. "He won't wake up."

Kathryn looked up at her daughter, gasping. "Show me where he is baby."

Mary nodded as she lead her mother to where she had just found her father, starting to cry. Mary didn't quite understand death, but she somehow knew that she would never be seeing her father again.

Not wanting to deal with everything, the pregnant Kathryn sent her children down to stay with the DiBiase family for a couple of weeks, while everything was straightened out. In this time, Mary and Ted Jr. began to really bond. Seeing the bond, Ted Sr. offered to continue taking Mary and Levi to WWF events, to meet the children of other wrestlers, just like they had at SummerSlam. In doing this, life long friendships were forged. These kids understood each other. Their fathers being away for weeks, sometimes even months at a time really took a toll on them. At least this way, they knew that they weren't alone.

…

By the next summer, Kathryn had married Scott Hall, and they welcomed Chelsea Riley Hall into the world. Mary loved her baby sister more than anything. So she agreed to move down to Atlanta with her new step-father to help raise her sister, as well as be closer to her best friends, Ted Jr. and Cody Runnels. Seveal years later, in the summer of 1997, thirteen year-old Mary and fourteen year-old Ted were sitting under a tree together, at his father's summer home. They had been talking for what felt like hours when Ted began fidgeting.

"Mary, I... I mean... I..." He let out a frustrated sigh, unable to find his words. Then, without even realizing what he was doing, he cupped Mary's cheek, gently turning her head to face him, quickly pressing his lips to hers. It was both of their first kiss, and they both knew it.

Mary laughed softly as Ted quickly turned away, blushing. "Teddy Bear, if you wanted to kiss me, why didn't you say so?"

Ted slowly turned to face Mary again, "you... you wanted to kiss me?"

"For at least a year now," Mary nodded with a soft smile. "Now how about we try that again?" She gently leaned in, lips slightly parted, making sure that his were as well. "Just relax," she whispered. "It's me, Teddy." Ted nodded, visibly relaxing as Mary leaned in once more, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to his lips. After a few moments, she pulled away once more. "See? Now that is what a kiss should be like."

"So... you like me?" Ted bit his lip. "Does this mean you'd like to be my girlfriend?"

Mary laughed softly with a nod. "I would love to be your girlfriend, Ted."

"Really?" Ted's eyes lit up.

Mary took his hand, lacing their fingers together. "Of course, Ted. It's not like I was going to date anyone else. I don't trust many people the way that I do you."

"I know, Mare Bear," Ted kissed her once again. "Nothing's been easy for you since..."

"It's okay, Ted," Mary took a deep breath. "It's been eight years. My dad is gone, and I can't stand Scott. At least I have you and..." she stopped mid-sentence, looking up to their twelve year-old best friend. "Hi Cody."

Cody looked down at his friends with a smile, noticing that they were holding hands. "So did Ted finally make the move, or did you have to, Mare?"

"He actually did it," Mary laughed softly.

"Wow, are we sure that's Ted?" Cody chuckled.

"Ha ha, very funny," Ted rolled his eyes, blushing once again.

"Of course it's Ted," Mary smiled. "Do you really think I'd kiss any other boy?"

"Wait... you two kissed?" Cody blinked. "So this is serious?"

"Yes," Mary laughed, squeezing Ted's hand. "We all know this is meant to be."

"So what does that mean about us?" Cody frowned, looking to each of his best friends.

"Ooh, Coddles," Mary pouted, pushing herself up to her feet. "You are still our best friend," she hugged him tightly. "Me and Teddy dating isn't going to change that."

"Promise?" Cody sighed as he returned the hug.

Ted stood up, "of course, man. This doesn't change anything."

Cody nodded as they did their handshake.

"Hey," eleven year-old Levi walked up, "what's going on?"

"I've got this," Mary smiled, walking over to her brother, explaining the new development of her first romantic relationship to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning: Mentions of rape and violence in this chapter. Can be triggering. Nothing in detail, though.**

* * *

><p>Despite being only thirteen years-old, Mary began to train to wrestle that summer. Her step-father was a part of the nWo, a very popular stable in the wrestling world at the time. Even Dusty Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, Sr. had joined them at one point. Mary, Ted, Cody, Levi, as well as Curt Hennig's son Joe spent a lot of time backstage whenever the shows were near their homes. They got to know a lot of the wrestlers in the company, especially those in the nWo.<p>

One night before Monday Nitro, Ted sat in the front row as Mary was working in the ring with Dean Malenko and Billy Kidman. She was a natural in the ring, and Ted couldn't have been more proud. When they finished up and received notice that the show would be starting soon, Ted walked her to the women's locker room and waited while she showered off and changed. After chatting with the Nitro Girls for a bit, Mary walked out of the locker room, pecking her boyfriend's lips.

"Getting makeup tips?" Ted chuckled.

Mary smirked as they linked their fingers together, walking down the hall. "And if I were saying that I was getting kissing tips?"

Ted stopped in his tracks, blushing wildly. "I really don't think you need any help in that department, Mare Bear."

Mary smirked as she checked their surroundings before backing up against the wall, pulling Ted close to her. "Is that so?"

Ted nodded as he leaned in, pressing his lips to his girlfriend's. For the first time since their relationship began, Ted didn't pull away right after the initial peck. Instead, he slowly drew his tongue out, running it along Mary's lips.

Mary's eyes widened in surprise momentarily before she drew her tongue out to meet his. Just they were about to get into the kiss, they could hear yelling in the distance. Mary pulled away with a sigh, looking down.

Ted held Mary in his arms as he frowned. "Is that Scott?"

Mary nodded, "I think that Sean is drunk again. I wish that he'd get help for that."

Ted bit his lip as he saw the sadness in his girlfriend's eyes. "Let's go find a place to settle in for the night."

Mary nodded as she followed her boyfriend into a room where they could sit down and cuddle while watching the show in silence.

…

A few months later Sean Waltman, who was going by Syxx in the ring at the time, stayed off of WCW programming because Eric Bischoff couldn't stand his constant substance abuse. Of course, Sean did not like this at all. One night in March of 1998, he successfully made his way into the arena without anyone noticing. By this time, Mary had somehow unofficially became a part of the nWo, so she was serving as a valet for her step-father. This meant that she wouldn't be spending the entire night with Ted, who was in the catering area while Mary was out by the ring. This wasn't the first time that Mary had joined the nWo in the ring. In fact, she even added in a promo here and there. Something else she was a natural at. After the nWo segment ended that night, Mary made her way backstage alone. As she was about to reach catering, she was pulled into a dark room. She did her best to fight off her attacker, but she smelled the alcohol on his breath. He was much more forceful than he ever had been when they worked together in the ring. She did her best to fight him off, but he was able to eventually take her over.

Ted had drifted off into his thoughts, not realizing that the nWo segment had finished until he saw a couple of the members enter catering. He got up, going to look for his girlfriend, who was supposed to be meeting him. He didn't have to go too far before he heard the sounds of a girl struggling. When he heard a very weak "please stop", he realized that Mary was in that room. He swung the door open to see Sean on top of Mary, who was crying and trying to push him off.

"What the hell are you doing to my girlfriend, man?" The words slipped out of Ted's mouth before he could even think.

"What are you talking about, kid? Aren't you like thirteen?" Sean turned to look at Ted, giving Mary and opening to squirm away.

Ted's eyes widened as he saw his girlfriend beaten and completely naked. "Fifteen, actually. And I'm older than her." He rushed over to Mary, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her body. He picked her up just as he saw blood starting to drip down her thighs.

"You mean she's not nineteen?" The drunken wrestler fell over.

"What difference would even make?" Ted sneered as he carried Mary out of the room to find her some help. Not even half way down the hall, he ran into his father, just as Mary was starting to drift out of consciousness. He looked up at the older man with tears in his eyes, "dad..."

Ted Sr. looked over the situation, quickly getting an assessment of what had just occurred. "Who?"

"Waltman," Ted sighed. "He's passed out in the room down the hall. I don't see him going anywhere any time soon."

The older man nodded, leading his son down the hall, letting security know what had happened before finding the ambulance that was waiting in case anyone had been seriously hurt. He let his son ride with his girlfriend while he stayed behind and made a few calls.

…

After being questioned by police, Ted stayed in the room while Mary was examined. He was pacing and crying the entire time. He wanted to help his girlfriend, but he didn't have the first clue as to what to do. Once the team was finishing up, a female doctor walked up to Ted, a sullen look on her face.

"How is she?" A hopeful look spread across the teenager's face.

"First thing I have to ask you if if the two of you have been sexually active in any way," the doctor took a deep breath.

Ted's face went pale, knowing what that question could possibly mean. "No, we weren't ready for that yet."

"Then it's exactly as we may have feared. Maryanne is pregnant, Ted. That means that her attacker..." she was cut off by Ted holding his hand up.

"So she's... how do you know this soon?" Ted leaned against the wall, holding his stomach.

"Well we know that conception has occurred. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to take. Even if it does, she may choose to not keep it, under the circumstances," she looked to Ted with concern.

Ted nodded slowly, "I understand."

"The good part of all of this is that she seems to trust you. She was asking for you when she was conscious. At the same time, there is a good chance that she's going to be afraid of even you once she fully comes to," the doctor explained.

"Yes, I know. It will suck if she turns me away, but I am prepared for it," Ted nodded.

"Oh, and you should know that your father is here. Apparently Maryanne's father told him to deal with it," she shook her head at the thought.

"He's her step-father. I can't say that I'm surprised," Ted sighed, "he mother probably doesn't care, either." He slowly made his way out to the lobby as the finished up getting Mary ready to spend the night in a regular room. He looked up at his dad, "hey..."

Ted Sr. wrapped his arms around his son. "She's going to be OK."

Ted Jr. nodded with a sigh, "can she stay with us? You know how things are with Scott and her mom."

"I honestly don't think that they're going to give us a choice in the matter," his father nodded as they looked up to see Mary getting wheeled out of the room. "You should stay in case she wakes up in the middle of the night. I'll be back to pick you up in the morning."

Ted nodded with a small smile as he wiped his tears away, "thanks dad."

…

Ted Sr. walked into Mary's room at nine the next morning. It had been a long night, and he hadn't gotten much sleep, due to his thoughts keeping him awake. The sight that was before him caused a warm smile to play across his lips. Normally, the sight of two teenagers in bed together would be troubling, but Mary had her arms wrapped around Ted. She was clinging onto him as if both of their lives depended on it. This meant that she felt safe with Ted, which was a huge thing considering what had just happened the night before. Most girls in her situation didn't want anyone near them, especially not any males. There was a good chance that she may be skittish around other people, but it was good that she was at least letting Ted in. The Million Dollar Man cleared his throat softly, just enough to wake his son up, still smiling.

Ted stirred awake, opening his eyes and quickly began to sit up once he saw his father in the room, only to be pulled back in by Mary. He looked up, giving his father an innocent smile.

The older man chuckled, "you're fine, Junior. She obviously wants you there. Kathryn has given me permission to sign her out. She's going to be staying with us until she heals up. She really isn't in any condition to travel. Not even to Atlanta."

Ted bit his lip, "heal up?"

Ted Sr. nodded, "she has some internal injuries. Her pregnancy is going to be high risk for at least a couple of months, but that is only if she chooses to keep it."

"So is it going to be okay if she stays in my room? Because if this is any indication, it looks like she may insist," Ted sighed, gently stroking Mary's unbruised cheek.

"Considering there may not even be any kissing, let alone any funny business going on, I'm sure that your mother and myself will allow it," he set down Mary's suitcase, as well as a duffle bag next to bed. "These are her things, and I brought a change of clothes for you, as well. I'll be waiting in the hall signing all of the paperwork and whatnot." He quietly left the room, leaving his son to handle things in there.

Once the door closed, Ted gently nudge Mary. "Mare Bear? Time to wake up."

Mary slowly woke up, suddenly realizing that the night before hadn't been a dream. She didn't remember very many details. Nor did she want to. Tears filled her eyes as she looked down at her hospital gown, then over to her boyfriend. "It really happened, didn't it, Teddy Bear?"

He kissed her forehead softly, "let's not think of it now, Maryanne. You're coming home with me for a while. I'm going to take care of you."

"So mom and Scott obviously don't care," she slowly sat up, wincing a little.

"You're not surprised, are you?" Ted frowned as he got up, walking over to the duffle bag. "I'm going to get changed, then I'm going to help you."

She blinked, her eyes widening a bit, "but Ted..."

He took a deep breath, "I... um... I sort of saw everything last night, Mare Bear. I did my best to not look. My eyes just kept going to the wounds. You trust me, right?"

She nodded with a smile, "of course."

He leaned over, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to her lips. "I'll be right back." He slipped into the bathroom in the room and quickly changed, returning less than a minute later. He helped her out of the bed and let her test out her legs. She was still a little shaky, needing to lean against Ted for support as she walked toward the bathroom. "Do you need a minute?" he knew that there were bars near the toilet for those in a wheel chair, so she could use those while she took care of her business. After she nodded, he made sure that she got into the bathroom before turning and going for the suitcase.

Once she finished, she looked toward the door, "you can come in, Ted."

Ted took a deep breath, opening the door and set the suitcase down on the floor before closing the door once more. After he opened her suitcase, she pointed to a pair of panties, which he pulled out and held open for her to step into as he knelt in front of her and she held his shoulders for support. She was able to reach behind her neck, untying the hospital gown and letting it fall to the ground. She then pointed to a sports bra, which he grabbed for her and stood up, helping her get it over her head, not once looking at her breasts. After getting her into a pair of loose fitting, comfortable clothing, he closed the suitcase and helped her into her sandals, picking it up along with his duffle and helped her out of the room. They made their way out to a waiting nurse, who had a wheelchair for Mary to be wheeled out of the hospital. Next stop was the DiBiase home, where Ted secretly hoped that Mary could stay for good.


	3. Chapter 3

For the next three months, Mary stayed with the DiBiase family. She had dropped out of school, and began working with an online tutor for the duration of her pregnancy. She got to share a room with Ted, and they did everything together. There were even a couple of occasions where they showered together, but they kept everything completely innocent. There was some touching, but it was out of pure curiosity. They trusted each other. Things never went to far, and they planned to keep it that way for a very long time. The best part of everything was hearing that Sean had been fired from WCW soon after what had happened.

One night, Ted had appeared a little frustrated. He hadn't "taken care of things" at all since Mary was staying with him, and it was beginning to take it's toll on him. Having a teenage brother, Mary understood these things. While laying next to each other in bed she glanced over to see a bulge in Ted's pants and bit her lip, blushing. "Teddy Bear..." she said softly.

Ted followed her line of vision, knowing what she had seen and quickly tried to hide it. "I'm sorry."

Mary smiled softly, placing her hand on his. "Don't be sorry, Ted. It's natural. Have you even... you know... since I've been here?"

Ted shook his head, biting his lip. "I've been so focused on taking care of you that I've done my best to push it out of my mind."

"But you want to... with me..." Mary swallowed visibly.

"Of course I want to, Mary. Why else would we be together if I didn't want you?" Ted brought a hand to his girlfriend's cheek.

"Do you still want to? I mean even after..." Mary's bottom lip quivered.

"That wouldn't change my desire for you. Maryanne, I love you," Ted began pulling away a little.

"I love you too, Ted," Mary whispered, leaning in and smashing her lips against his. For the very first time, their innocent kiss turned into a full blown make out session. Just as Ted's hand reached under her pajama top, gently cupping her breast, he quickly pulled away, turning his head. Mary saw this and smiled softly. "I can always help you, you know."

Ted shook his head, "I'm not ready for that. I don't think that you actually are, either."

"I'm not," Mary nodded as she slowly got up. "I just care about you a lot." Mary smiled, leaning over to peck his lips one more time. "How long should I give you?"

"At this rate, it probably won't take very long. Fifteen minutes?" Ted looked up to his girlfriend with appreciative eyes.

"Yeah, no problem. I'm sure I can find something to do," Mary smiled as she walked down the hall, running her hand over her stomach. She wasn't quite starting to show yet, but she could definitely feel the life growing inside of her. She made her way to Ted's younger brother Brett's room and knocked on the door. She smiled as she heard his television click off. "It's just me, Bretty. Can I come in?"

Brett let out a sigh of relief as he turned his television back on. "Yeah, c'mon in, Mare."

Mary smiled as she let herself into Brett's room and sat down next to him on his bed as he continued to play his video game. She knew that he enjoyed having her around, seeing as how his two older brothers constantly tormented him. So having her around meant that he had a surrogate older sister.

"So what brings you here?" Brett smirked. "My brother fall asleep on you?"

"Not exactly," Mary blushed. "We were making out, and I had to leave so he could... handle something."

"Ew!" Brett laughed. "So you mean right now, he's..."

Mary nodded, laughing softly. "It's cool, though. I know that boys need to do that."

"No comment," Brett blushed, getting back into his game.

…

A couple of days later, Ted Sr. walked up to Mary with a soft smile. "I just talked to Scott, Chelsea is asking about you."

Mary nodded with a sigh, "I guess it's time to go home."

"Are you sure that you're ready?" her boyfriend's father looked to her with concern.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. I'm sure," Mary looked up to the older man with confidence.

…

"I can't believe you're taking his side!" Mary looked to her step-father in disbelief. Two months had gone by, and she and Scott had done nothing but argue. Nearly every night, Mary had called Ted crying, and he had to calm her down, just so that she could get some rest.

"You're a big girl, Mary. You should have known better than to act like that around a grown man." Scott shot back at the teenager.

Mary panted in frustration as she looked over to her mother who just looked down and didn't say a thing. She shook her head as tears filled her eyes. "You know what? Fine. I'll leave. I can have this baby and raise it on my own. No problem." She pushed passed her step-father and went up to her room to pack her things.

Levi appeared in her doorway with a sigh. "You know that mom is just afraid."

Mary bit her lip and looked back to the thirteen year-old with a shrug. "But I'm her daughter, Levi. The least she could do is stand up for me."

"Where will you go? It's not like anyone in mom's family would take in an unwed pregnant teenager, and..." Levi started with a desperate plea in his voice.

Mary held up her hand before he could finish. They both knew that after their father had passed away that they had little to no contact with anyone in his family. She didn't feel like this was the best thing to be springing on them. "I'll think of something. I have some money, and plenty of friends."

Levi nodded as he walked over to his big sister and wrapped his arms in a tight, comforting embrace. "Just keep in touch, okay? I'll do my best to explain to Chelsea, but no promises."

Mary sighed as her brother helped her finish packing. She couldn't carry much, but that wasn't what had her so worried. What had Mary most concerned was leaving her nine year-old sister behind. She didn't know what that would do to the young girl, nor what Scott would be filling her tiny head with after the way her had just treated Mary. She took a deep breath as she picked up her bus ticket and recounted the cash she had saved up to take on her trip. "Just take care of mom and Chelsea and keep training. Maybe we'll run into each other in the ring someday," she gave her brother a hopeful look before leaving the home they had known for nine years.

…

Later that night Mary arrived in Marietta, just twenty miles from Atlanta. It was raining hard, but she knew exactly where she was going. She carried her suitcase all the way as she walked to the Runnels's house with pure determination. She had to get out of the situation she had been in, and this was the closest place she could go to do so. She knocked on the door, still crying softly and drenched from her walk. She had begun to show, but the DiBiase family hadn't told the Runnels family what had happened to Mary yet, so there was a look of shock on Dusty's face as he opened the door, seeing Mary's pregnant belly as her wet clothing clung to her body.

"Oh darling..." Dusty shook his head, clicking his tongue. He turned his head toward the stairs, "Cody, get down here, boy!" He stepped aside to let Mary inside the house and out of the rain.

"I didn't do it, I swear!" Cody stated preemptively as he made his way down the stairs. As he walked into the entry way of their home, his father motioned to his friend. Cody took in the sight of Mary and gasped, running up to her and wrapping his arms around her. "Now I know this isn't Ted's baby," Cody sighed as he pulled away.

Mary shook her head as she bit her lip. "Waltman attacked me the last night I was on Nitro."

Dusty shook his head as he took in what had happened to his friend's daughter. He, along with a number of the other Superstars at the time, had all made a pact to look out for each others children if anything were to happen to one of them. The look on the young girl's face told a story of pain to Dusty, and he knew what he had to do. "Cody, take her up and show her everything to take a shower. Now the guest room isn't ready at the moment, but I'm sure that Ted will be alright with it if you two shared for the time being."

Cody nodded as he brought an arm around Mary, starting to lead her up the stairs. "I'll take care of her, dad. Don't worry."

"I'm not, son," Dusty smiled. "I'll call the DiBiases and let them know what happened."

Instead of going back to the DiBiase's home, Mary stayed with the Runnels family and became close to Cody in a brother/sister type of way. Three and a half months after moving in, she gave birth to Marcus Theodore Williams and with the help of Cody and his parents she began to raise her baby. Her journey had only just begun.

* * *

><p><strong>So yes, for those of you who read "My Happy Ending", this chapter included a chunk of chapter two of that. You will be seeing that frequently throughout this story. I meant to mention that in the last chapter, but better late than never!<strong>

**Also, for those that don't know, Brett posted a pic of him with his son on Twitter today. I believe that little Eli will be just as cute as his cousin, Tate.**


	4. Chapter 4

The next summer, in addition to working off the rest of her baby weight, Mary had continued her wrestling training. She worked with Ted, Cody, and Cody's older brother, Dustin, who went by Goldust in the ring. As the months went by, it really began to show that Mary was catching on much quicker than her boyfriend and best friend. At the end of August of 2000, right before the boys needed to go back to school, Mary had made a very hard decision. After playing outside for a while Cody took eight month old Marcus inside as Mary and Ted sat out on the porch together.

"I can't keep doing this to you," Mary finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"What do you mean?" Ted's face went pale, fearing the worst.

"You are about to start your junior year, Teddy Bear. You shouldn't be doing that with a girlfriend who's..." Mary sighed, biting her lip.

"But Mare, I love you," Ted attempted to pull his girlfriend into his arms.

Mary froze up, biting her lip. "There's that, too."

Ted quickly pulled away from her, dropping his hands into his lap. "I wondered if this was going to happen."

"You deserve better, Ted. You deserve a girl who isn't afraid to have fun, and isn't raising a baby. It's better this way. I think that deep inside, you know that," Mary swallowed visibly, fighting back tears.

"So this is it then? We're breaking up?" Ted took a deep breath, covering his face with his hands for a moment.

"We're still going to be friends, Ted. We've known each other too long to just give up everything like that. You can even still be in his life. I will always love you," Mary slowly stood up.

Ted stood up as well, pulling Mary into his arms, "I will always be there for you."

"I know. So I'll see you around," Mary nodded as she returned the hug.

Ted smiled softly as he pulled away, his tears filling his eyes. "We'll figure something out."

Mary walked inside after watching Ted walk away. Dusty and Cody watched on as Mary walked up the stairs, tears streaming down her cheeks. Cody went to follow her, but his father held him back.

"Just give her a few minutes. There are a number of traits that Maryanne doesn't share with other girls, but this is still her first break up," Dusty rubbed his son's shoulder.

Cody nodded, sitting back down with Marcus and finished feeding him his bottle. After the infant was sound asleep in his arms, he stood up, putting the bottle in the sink and made his way upstairs. He knocked softly before walking into Mary's bedroom. He saw that she was still sobbing softly, so he just laid her sleeping son into her arms and quietly left the room.

A few hours later, Mary walked into Cody's room, Marcus now wide awake. She set him down on a blanket that Cody kept in his room with a few toys and sat down next to her best friend.

"Do you regret it?" Cody looked over to her.

Mary nodded, taking a deep breath. "I will probably regret it for a long time, but I know that it was for the best."

"I'm sure that he understands," Cody attempted to reassure her.

"Yeah, of course," Mary brought her knees up to her chest. "I just know that it's not fair to him to be playing daddy at his age. Especially when it's not even his kid."

"So he's going to be 'Uncle Ted'?" Cody looked over to her, chewing on his bottom lip.

Mary nodded again, "I just feel like it's for the best." She repeated that reasoning, as if she was attempting to convince herself. "It hurts, but there are other reasons why I ended things."

"Can you share them with me?" Cody looked to the screen as he restarted his video game.

"It's kinda personal," Mary bit her lip.

"Sex?" Cody asked innocently. He had just recently turned fourteen, and wasn't ready for that personally, but he knew that his best friends had been together for a quite a while.

Mary visibly shuddered, hugging her knees closer to her chest. "Part of me wants to."

Cody paused his game, setting down his controller as he turned to look at his female best friend. "Look Mare, I get it. You and Ted had been together for two years. You love each other. I'm sure that there is a part of you that feels like since it was already taken from you physically, that you may as well be okay with just doing it."

"And I can't bear to put him through my mental struggle when it comes to that. I trust him completely, but it's been getting worse lately," Mary sighed.

"How has it been getting worse?" Cody coaxed his friend on.

"I want to say that it took a while for what happened to me to really settle into my psyche," Mary explained. "For months, I was more than okay with cuddling with him every night. We even made out a couple of times. Now, it's gotten to the point where if he just simply touches me, I freeze up."

Cody took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, "I think that I agree with you. Ted is a great guy, but coming from a teenage guy, it would be hard to not touch my girlfriend. You know... if I had one."

Mary laughed softly, "you know, you're too cute to _not_ have a girlfriend."

"Maybe someday," Cody shrugged.

…

Over the next six months, Mary became more and more focused on her work. She was breezing through all of her high school classes, and at almost sixteen, she was nearly ready to get into the ring as a professional. At the same time, she made a promise to herself. She would finish high school, and go through developmental before forcing her way into the big leagues. She had the rest of her life to be a big star in the wrestling world. She could take her time. There was no rush.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I just spent a whole chapter on Mary and Ted's breakup. If you've read any of my other stories with Mary in them, you'll know how important this is to the story.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

In May of 2001, Mary completed her high school education a year early and received a try out with WWF. She was placed into OVW, giving her a little more time to perfect her craft, with some actual competition. She was actually happy with this decision, seeing as how Sean Waltman was currently with the company, under the name of X-Pac. On top of that, WWF had recently started the Invasion storyline. There simply wasn't room for fresh faces at the time. Mary was okay with this. She continued working hard, while raising her son. She would be called up when the time was right.

Mary had kept in touch with Ted until they both finished high school. When Ted told her that he would definitely be going to college, their relationship began to strain a little. Being so far apart from one another finally took a toll on them both and just before they had parted ways, the subject of dating other people came up. This being despite the fact that they had broken up two years before. Mary was Ted's date to each of his school dances, and neither of them even looked at anyone else. Ted was very adamant on the subject of trying to date other people, where Mary was very unsure. Still, they were at an age where exploring would only be right. Marcus was now three years-old, and Mary had moved from Marietta, to Louisville, Kentucky. She had a roommate who was also in OVW, and they had a neighbor girl, who was in high school, baby-sitting Marcus while they were working. After being with the company for a couple of months Mary was in the ring with one of the other aspiring Divas when three of the aspiring Superstars walked into the ring to check the girls out. The seventeen year-old was completely dominating her competitor. The three men winced as she slammed the other girl onto the mat.

"Damn, she's hot. Who is she?" Randy Orton looked to each of his friends.

Dave Bautista chuckled, "that's Mary Williams. You don't recognize her?"

Randy exhaled sharply, whistling, "she grew up nice."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" John Cena looked to the other men.

Randy blinked, looking over to John. "That's Scott Hall's step-daughter. She was valet for the nWo for a bit."

"That's her?" John blinked. "Where has she been the past few years?"

"I heard that she got into a huge fight with Scott, and moved in with Dusty Rhodes," Dave shrugged.

"I see..." John looked up just as Mary waved to the men, blowing them a kiss before hitting the other girl with a Snap DDT and pinning her. "Looks like there is hope for the Diva's Division after Trish and Lita just yet."

…

March 24, 2002 – Mary's 18th Birthday

Mary had been with the company nearly a year by the time her eighteenth birthday came around. She had already held the Women's title twice, and had made friends with many of her colleagues, including John, Randy, and Dave. After a successful night of matches, the hopeful wrestlers gathered at a nearby club to celebrate the female powerhouse's birthday. Mary had the time of her life, dancing with both men and women throughout the night. Having not been in a relationship in four years, Mary chose to keep her options open. Not singling out either gender, in fear of missing something promising. She smiled as she felt a familiar body come up behind her, snaking his arms around her waist.

"So you're the birthday girl?" His deep voice penetrated her ear as she felt his hot breath against her cheek.

A chill ran down his spine as her eyes fluttered close. She was definitely turned on by this man, there was no way in denying that. She took a deep breath breath before turning around. "Hey Randy."

Randy already had quite a bit to drink, and he had one thing in mind. He knew that Mary was legal now, and he wanted to take advantage. "Would you like to find somewhere a little less loud to talk?"

"I was thinking somewhere a little more private..." Mary licked her lips, giving him a lustful look.

"Even better," he took her hand and lead her out of the club. Rather than possibly finding their way to a car and back to where they were staying, Randy opted to take her around to the side of the building where no prying eyes could see them.

Before she could get a chance to say anything, his lips smashed against hers, his tongue almost immediately begging for entrance into her mouth. She shuddered a bit, it had been a long time since she had kissed anyone, but she wanted to. By God, did she want to. Her lips parted, granting him access to her mouth as their tongues collided. He snaked one arm around her waist as the other hand began slowly making it's way up her side. As he cupped the underside of her breast he stopped, pulling away from the kiss just enough to chuckle. At the same time, he felt her tense up, causing him to completely pull away from her and look her in her piercing blue eyes.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He frowned a little, biting his lip. "I know that I said talk, but..."

She quickly shook her head. "No, it's me. I want to. Trust me, I _really_ want to. It's just that I've never..."

A cocky grin came across Randy's lips as he tightened the grip he had had on her waist, though not enough to hurt her. "So... What are my chances here?"

She cleared her throat, feeling her body heat up even more. "I... I..." she swallowed visibly, trembling a little.

Randy swallowed, looking her over. He could feel her body screaming for him, but the look in her eyes was telling a completely different story. He wanted her, but he could never bring himself to rush or force a girl. "It's okay. We can take things slow. That is... if you'd like to continue this on a more long term basis."

Mary raised an eyebrow with a smirk, "my, my Randy Orton, are you asking me out?"

Randy chuckled, pressing another kiss to her lips. "Mary Williams, will you be my girlfriend?"

Mary smiled with a nod. "I bet you were waiting for this."

"Ever since the night we met," Randy smiled, kissing her once more.

"You didn't have to wait until my birthday," Mary smirked, tilting her head.

"I just didn't want to give anyone the wrong idea," Randy rubbed her sides.

Mary gently pushed Randy away, biting her lip. "Randy... if this is going to happen between us... there is something that you need to know."


	6. Chapter 6

Surprisingly, Randy was very patient with Mary. They were together for six months before she was finally able to bring herself to have sex with him. However, once they started, they didn't stop. They were a very sexually active couple. The relationship even continued a couple of years after he, John, and Dave debuted on the main roster. In 2004, Mary received an offer to debut, but after two more reigns as women's champion, and even a reign as the television champion, she was more into helping the other future Diva's to prepare for the main roster, so she politely declined. It wasn't until August of 2006, when Stephanie McMahon herself had come to Mary with a storyline idea, that she agreed to make her debut. By that time, Randy was married, and Mary couldn't have been more happy for him. She was even at his wedding, and Samantha was well aware of Mary's past relationship with her husband.

It was at SummerSlam when Mary would be making her big appearance. They had already showed some vignettes, depicting that after her time in the nWo, she was much stronger than she once was, and that the Diva's division wouldn't know what hit them. It was assumed that she would be making her debut the night after, so everyone was unaware of what she had in store. While she was backstage, she happily reunited with Randy, John, and Dave, as well as meeting the rest of the Superstars who would be competing that night. She shamelessly fangirled Mick Foley when she met him, which gained a smirk from the person she would be helping that night.

"Well, at least you have good taste in your idols," Lita walked up to Mary.

Mary nearly squealed, clapping her hands. "Like you!"

Lita blinked, tilting her head. "You aren't normally like this, are you?"

Mary took a deep breath, composing herself. "No, I grew up with this business. Sometimes, I just get a little starstruck at times."

"That's right, you did. Whatever happened to your stint in the nWo?" Lita asked the younger girl with a soft smile.

Mary bit her lip, looking down.

"I'm sorry," Lita's expression soften. "Wast it bad?"

Mary took a deep breath. "What happened was bad, but I am more than happy with the ending result."

"Oh yeah? And what was that?" Lita sat down on an equipment crate.

Mary pulled out her phone, opening it and pulling up a picture of a young boy. She sat down as she showed it to the older woman, "this is Marcus. He'll be six in November."

"Six? I thought that you were only twenty-two," Lita's eyes widened.

"I am," Mary nodded. "I was fourteen when it happened."

"I am so sorry, sweetie," Lita placed a hand on Mary's shoulder.

Mary nodded as Stephanie walked up to them. "Am I interrupting?"

"No, you're fine," Mary smiled as she put her phone away. "What's up, Steph?"

"You know what you're supposed to do tonight, right?" Stephanie looked to the younger girl.

Mary nodded, "free ringside seats and jumping over the barricade during the main event. Sneak attack against my good old buddy, John."

"Wait, you know John?" Lita laughed.

"Yeah, I met him, Randy, and Dave back in developmental," Mary smiled. "Should make for interesting."

"I guess it's a good thing I didn't tell John who would be doing it," Stephanie chuckled as she headed off once more to continue her duties for the night.

…

During the main event, just as it looked as if John Cena was about to take the WWE Championship away from Edge, Lita jumped up onto the apron, distracting the ref. Mary took that as her cue to hop over the barricade. Intentionally not caught on camera, as per the storyline. Her role was as a friend of Lita's, which was simple enough. With the ref fully distracted, Mary slipped into the ring and hit John with a Snap DDT. Once she was fully out of the ring and hiding by the time keeper's area, Lita hopped back down just as Edge hit John with a Spear and pinned his challenger. From her hiding spot, Mary looked over to Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross with a smirk, motioning for them to stay quiet. Recognizing her, the men didn't say anything. As John was coming to, Mary walked back to the ring to celebrate with Edge and Lita. John blinked as Mary sauntered over to him with a devious grin, kissing his cheek.

"Mary?" John panted as the camera caught his shocked expression that it was his friend who had just betrayed him.

Mary just smiled as she walked over to Lita, high-fiving her before shaking hands with Edge. She laughed as the pay-per-view went off the air. After walking backstage, John stopped her. She smirked, looking up at him as she licked her lips. "Hey buddy."

"You sure as hell took your time getting here, little girl," John chuckled as he hugged her.

Mary smiled as she returned the hug, "aww, did you miss me?"

"Yes," John pouted playfully as Edge and Lita made their way to the locker room area. "Does this mean you're finally coming to the main roster."

"It does!" Mary grinned widely. "My debut was helping you lose. I hope you don't mind."

John shrugged, "I'll get the title again. No big deal."

"Good," Mary smiled, walking to the locker room area with John, chatting about their lives over the past few years.

…

The second half of RAW the next night came back from commercial with "It's Time to Rock and Roll" playing. Trish Stratus made her way down the ramp with a disgusted look on her face. She got into the ring with a microphone as she shook her head. "I cannot believe how things ended last night. I've been here a long time, and I think that it's no secret that I consider John Cena a friend. However, in my completely unbiased opinion, what Lita did last night was very unbecoming of a champion."

Before she could continue "Lovefurypassionengergy" began to play, and Lita walked out onto the stage with a microphone of her own. "You got something to say to me, Trish? I thought you were woman enough to say it to my face."

"Oh, I _am_ saying it to your face. I could have easily said this in an interview earlier," Trish shrugged. "I feel like you and that little friend of yours had no bus-"

Trish was once again cut off as "Get the Party Started" began to play and Mary walked out next to Lita, taking her microphone.

"Did you really just cut _me_ off? Are you another one of those little airhead models? Do you not know who I am?" Trish sneered.

Mary chuckled, shaking her head. "Cute Trish. Really cute. Only you have things backwards here. My name is Mary Williams, and I am in no way new to this business." She smirked, pointing up to the Titan Tron, "want some proof?" The monitor then began to show clips of Mary behind the scenes as a child, onto training as a young teen, all the way to wrestling against men in OVW.

"Wait, you're _that_ girl?" Trish blinked in astonishment.

"Yeah, hi," Mary smiled sweetly with a wave.

"Well, you seemed to have make a name for yourself back in the minor leagues, but how about we see how you do in the big time," Trish held her arms out, issuing a challenge.

"So you mean yourself?" Mary smirked.

"Well, no," Trish's eyes shifted. "I mean... you can start with some of the other girls."

"No, no," Lita shook her head. "You are already in the ring, in your gear. Young Mary is right here, also in her gear. I say let's get a ref out here and let the newbie show her worth."

Trish sighed softly, giving the microphone back to the time keeper as a ref made his way out from the back and Mary skipped down to the ring with a satisfied smirk. After the bell rang, Trish and Mary went into a lockup, which was soon won by Mary, who threw her opponent across the ring. After hitting the mat, Trish backed up to the turnbuckles with a look of shock on her face. Mary just stood back, taunting the veteran Diva, waiting for the older woman to get up.

In the back, word spread quickly that "the new girl" had challenged the one and only Trish Stratus. Soon everyone gathered at the monitors to see things go down. Just as John made it to the monitor, Trish was just attempting to kick Mary in the gut, but Mary caught the older woman's foot. She smirked as Trish jumped up and tried to kick the younger girl in the head with her other foot, only for Mary to duck just in time and rolled out of the way. Mary leaned against the ropes, laughing. "That all ya got, Trishie?"

Trish scowled, pushing her hair back as John chuckled from his viewing spot. "I see that Mary's personality hasn't changed much."

"I think that she's gotten better in the ring, though," Randy noted with a solemn nod.

Back in the ring, Mary was still completely dominating the veteran Diva. It was obvious that Trish wasn't holding back, and she even got a few good hits in. For nearly two minutes, Trish got the upper-hand, but Mary quickly turned it around and hit Trish with a DDT. Mary then did her own version of Goldust's signature taunt of running her hands up her torso before blowing Trish a kiss. She then lifted the older woman up in a vertical suplex before dropping the Diva into a swinging neckbreaker.

"Was... was that a Final Cut?" Jim Ross asked as Mary pinned Trish for a three count.

"Well, Goldust was her mentor," Jerry Lawler chuckled.

"I can see that," JR laughed. "It looks like there is about to be a new era in the Diva's division."

Mary made her way backstage, only to be stopped by John. She smiled, looking up at him. "Is there something that is so important that you are preventing me from getting a shower before leaving?"

"Yes," John nodded. "Will you go to dinner with me after the show?"

Mary stopped in her tracks, blinking as she turned to look at her friend. "Do you mean like to celebrate my win?"

"No," John's serious expression took over. "I'm asking you on a date."

Mary thought for a moment and smiled, "I just need to make a call, then I'm all yours."

"Call to who?" John raised an eyebrow.

Mary turned as she was halfway down the hall, looking back to John, "just my babysitter."


	7. Chapter 7

Mary had walked off to the locker room without giving John a chance to respond after she told him that she needed to call her baby sitter in order to go out with him. As she walked out of the locker room, freshly showered and in her street clothes, she saw John waiting for her. She bit her lip as she walked over to him, taking a deep breath.

"You can back out. I'll understand," Mary addressed her friend in a dejected tone.

John shook his head as he brought his arm around her. "I don't mind if you have a kid, Mare. I still like you."

"Good. Let's go eat then," Mary grinned. "I'm starving."

Throughout the night John and Mary got to know one another and sparks flew. There was only one problem. John didn't ask for any details on Mary's child, aside from gender and name. Mary knew that she should have told him Marcus's age, but she only answered the questions asked. They continued dating for a few months. Not much happened in their relationship. Every time they started getting closer, Mary shut herself off. One night at a house show, Mary was just about to visit John when she saw Brooke Adams walking up to him from the other direction. Mary watched on in horror as John and Brooke began making out. It definitely looked as if this was a regular occurrence for them. Mary should have confronted them right then and there, but she didn't. A few days later, as they were getting ready for RAW, Mary walked up to John. She gave him a chance to confess his sins before letting out a soft sigh.

"Is there something wrong, babe?" John frowned, slipping his arms around her waist.

"I think that we both know that this isn't going anywhere, John," Mary frowned, pulling away from him.

"I... I guess you're right," John nodded, taking off his baseball cap and running his hand over his shaven head. "Will we still be friends?"

Mary smiled softly, "of course."

After parting ways with John, Mary began to actively pursue her own career. By March of 2007, she had been with the company for seven months. She went through the proper channels and eventually received her first run at the Women's championship, finally winning in it in November, after Brooke had been released from the company. She continued her run as one of the top divas in the company until April of 2008 when she sustained a knee injury that would require minor surgery, and about a year of rehab. She was given the option to quit, but that just simply wasn't in Mary's vocabulary. She worked hard, striving to come back even better than ever.

…

April 20, 2009 – Smack Down Tapings.

Mary had been competing in house shows for a couple of weeks before coming back to an actual show. She would be competing in a match for Superstars, which was more than OK with her. She was just happy to be back, doing what she loved. She was still on the RAW roster, having gotten a pass at the last draft, due to being injured, so after her match she showered off and got ready got head back to the hotel to call Marcus before he went to bed for school the next day. As she was getting dressed, she looked up to see a familiar face.

"Nattie?" Mary tilted her head.

Natalya looked up as she was adjusting her ring gear. She blinked upon realizing that it was her old friend walking over to her. "Oh my God, Mare!" She jumped up, wrapping her arms around the other woman. "I didn't know you were back."

Mary laughed as she returned the hug. "Just now starting. I did a match for Superstars. I'm still on the RAW roster."

Natalya nodded, "have you been keeping up while you were injured?"

"Not really," Mary bit her lip. "I've been spending all of my time with my son."

"Your what, and why am I just now hearing about this?" Natalya scolded her friend.

Mary nodded, "do you remember how I used to be a part of the nWo? I even hung out with your dad and uncles for a bit while I was there."

Natalya nodded, "yeah, what about it?"

"Do you also know how I just randomly got written off in March, ten years ago?" Mary sat down next to her friend.

"Yeah, no one really knew why. I heard you moved with Dusty Rhodes a few months later," Natalya looked over to Mary with concern.

Mary took a deep breath, "I was attacked by Sean Waltman that night. Nearly nine months later came Marcus."

"So that would make him, what nine now?" Natalya bit her lip as she brought an arm around her friend.

"Why weren't we aware of this?" Stephanie McMahon walked up to the friends, whom she had known since they were children.

Mary took a deep breath, "charges were never filed. My mom and Scott didn't care. What could I do?"

Stephanie nodded, "I understand. Well, Sean isn't currently employed by the company. I assume that if he ever comes back, you would like to be as far away from him as possible?"

"If you can help it," Mary nodded.

"I won't give anyone the details, but I'll make sure do at least that for you," Stephanie sighed, shaking her head. Mary understood what Stephanie was thinking. Soon after Sean was released from WCW, Stephanie was one of the people behind bringing him back to WWF. She even worked with him as part of D-Generation X at one point.

After Stephanie left the room, Natalya smirked. "Well, when you get back to RAW on Monday, I suggest you head right for Randy's locker room. I promise that you won't regret it."

...

April 27, 2009 – Monday Night RAW.

Fresh off of their success against the team of Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon the night before at Backlash, Legacy was riding high. Randy had won the WWE Championship as per the pre-match stipulation, so the three multi-generation wrestlers felt like they now ruled the company. They ran their mouths in the ring, but as soon as the cameras went away... well, they didn't quite as much. Just before the show, Mary walked into their dressing room, not even bothering to knock before doing so. She was unaware of why Natalya insisted why she went to see her ex-boyfriend, as well as not allowing Mary to watch the Pay-Per-View the night before, but it wasn't like she had anything else to be doing at that point.

"Well, hey. Look who's back," Randy chuckled as he walked over to Mary, giving her a tight hug.

Mary smirked as she returned the hug, then turned to Cody, hugging him as well. "What is this about Legacy? Shouldn't I be involved in this?"

Randy shrugged, "you could be. It couldn't hurt to have one more minion. Plus, it's not like they would mind hanging out with you all of the time."

"They?" Mary raised an eyebrow. "I thought Manu and Sim had been released."

Randy and Cody looked to each other with a smirk just as Ted walked out of the bathroom, "is that one of the girls? What if one of us happened to be- Mare Bear?" His eyes widened.

Mary's eyes went wide as she saw her first boyfriend for the first time in eight years. "Teddy Bear!" She squealed as she ran over to him, jumping into his arms.

Ted caught Mary in a tight embrace, his arms firmly around her waist, with her legs around his. Without either of them realizing it, they began kissing. Years of absolutely no contact lead to years of repressed feelings. After a couple of minutes, they slowly pulled away. He gently let her down, not breaking eye contact. They looked to each other in silence until a stagehand knocked on the door.

Randy walked over to them, placing a hand on Mary's shoulder. "C'mon, Mare. You're joining Legacy tonight."

"Yeah..." Mary nodded, still in her daze as she followed her friends.


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't know if I can do this..." Mary sighed as she put on her shoes after the show was over.

"What's holding you back?" Cody frowned at his friend. "It's not like Ted doesn't know about Marcus, and I know that you still love him."

"Well, yeah," Mary stood up as Randy left the locker room, Ted still in the shower. "I will probably always love him. It's just that I haven't even dated anyone since John, and before him, it was only Randy."

"Y-you dated Randy?" Ted walked into the area of the locker room where his best friends were talking, in just a towel.

Mary looked up, seeing the pain in the eyes of her first love. "If you could call what we had dating," she shamefully admitted.

"Then what would you call it?" Ted snapped, a flash of jealous anger in his eyes.

Cody quickly stood to his feet, standing between his best friends. "C'mon man, calm down."

Mary glared at Ted from behind Cody, "a lot of experimenting. It was while you were in college. And anyway, you were the one that insisted we try dating other people."

"He's older than you. Did he at least wait until you were eighteen?" Ted charged at her, with Cody placing his hands on his friend's chest to hold him back.

"We didn't even start dating until I was eighteen, but it's not like he started fucking me right away," Mary sneered as she threw her bag over her shoulder. "You of all people know why," she sighed as she walked out of locker room and out of the arena.

…

Ted had regretted his words almost immediately, but he had let his temper get the best of him. After a few drinks with Cody, he had calmed down, but both men knew to give Mary some time before talking to her again. Neither of them attempted to contact Mary all week, but they were scheduled to appear at a house show together that weekend. Knowing what he had to do, Randy found Mary after arriving at the arena. He walked up to her, rather surprised to see her with a smile on her face, looking like her normal, perky self, despite hearing what had happened after he had left on Monday.

"Hey Mare," Randy tilted his head. "How are you doing tonight?"

Mary popped up from her spot on the equipment crate and hugged Randy, "I'm great!"

"Are you sure?" Randy asked skeptically as he returned the hug. "I heard what happened with Ted after I left."

Mary smiled, shaking her head as she stepped away. "It's fine. Our relationship has always been strained ever since..." she paused, biting her lip.

"I know," Randy noted softly, nodding.

"I think that there has just been a part of him that believed that somehow, I would have been waiting for him all this time," Mary shrugged. "At the same time, I know that he is a smart enough man to know that it was wishful thinking."

Randy nodded, "so are you going to be okay with continuing this storyline?"

Mary smiled, kissing Randy's cheek before heading to the locker room to meet with Ted and Cody. She walked into the locker room with a smile, facing Cody first. She gave him a small nod, letting him know that he could step aside, so that she could talk to Ted. Upon seeing her old boyfriend, Mary took a deep breath, "Teddy Bear..."

Ted smiled softly, "I'm sorry, Mare Bear. I didn't mean..."

Mary gently shushed him, bringing a finger to his lips. "Don't. Are you going to be okay with working together? I'm still not ready to date. I'm too focused on my work."

Ted nodded, "I'm just glad to have you in my life."

"Are you sure?" Mary bit her lip. "Because I've never really dealt with..."

"You haven't?" Ted raised an eyebrow. "But..."

Mary sighed, looking down, knowing that all three men in the room were looking at her with concern. "I know that it's been a long time. Hell, Marcus is nine now. I just..." she blinked as she watched Randy leave the room. "Shit..." she muttered before shaking her head and taking a deep breath. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Ted walked over to her, placing a hand on her cheek. "If at any time, you aren't feeling yourself, or if you need anything."

Mary smiled, nodding. "I've always been always able to count on both of you. In the end, I know that everything will be alright when you're near."

Cody nodded, "you're my big sis. I would do anything for you."

"That's what I like," Mary wrapped her arms around both men. "When are we up?"

"Soon, I think. Maybe that's why Randy left," Cody shrugged.

Mary nodded, "I should get ready, then." She walked over to her bag.

"Should we go?" Cody raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just going to change quickly," Mary smirked. "Nothing you two haven't seen." She couldn't help but laugh to herself as both of her best friends turned their backs as she quickly changed into her ring gear. Once she had her boots laced and tied she stood up. "Such gentlemen." She walked over to them, bringing an arm around each of them, kissing them each on the cheek before heading out to find Randy and join him for their match.

…

The months went on and Mary continued making appearances with Legacy. She became the most feared Diva on the roster, even helping out to beat up some of the men on occasion. No one could touch Ted or Cody while she was around without dire consequences. She was just protective enough to not completely emasculate her best friends. There was even a time where she charged at John for beating Ted down before a match. The stare down between them was heated before John pulled away and grabbed a microphone to say what he wanted to say as Mary tended to Ted. However, what none of them knew is that all while growing closer to a number of the male roster as friends, Mary had taken it upon herself to watch after Randy whenever he got drunk. One night, things went a little too far. Before she knew it, Mary was pulling Randy into a hotel room after watching him hit on a couple of ring rats in a bar. She sighed softly as she sat him down on the bed.

Randy placed his hands on Mary's hips, almost like as if they hadn't missed a beat since breaking up. "What did you do that for? They wanted me."

"I'm not so sure it was you they wanted, Randy," Mary bit her lip. "I've seen those types of girls before. They would ruin you."

Randy frowned as he began running his hands all over Mary's body. "But now I'm all worked up. What shall we do about that?"

Mary took a deep breath, hating herself for loving the feeling of Randy's hands upon her. "But Randy, what about..."

Randy cupped her breast as he pulled her in for a kiss. "Nobody has to know," he murmured against her lips.

She knew it was wrong, but Mary had convinced herself that she was actually helping Randy by sleeping with him that night. Those women at the bar were gold digging whores. She could practically smell it on them. Had they gotten pregnant any time around the time Randy fucked them, Mary knew that they would claim that he was the father. After that, Randy's life would be completely ruined. His marriage would be over, and he would be stuck with child support, not to mention years of bad press for what he had done. Mary couldn't have that, though. She cared about her ex, and she would do anything to take care of him. Even if that meant helping him betraying his marriage, as well as her friendship with Samantha. After all, just like Randy said, nobody had to know.


	9. Chapter 9

**While reading these next two chapters, you may notice that it feels very familiar. It is basically a re-write of "Goldust Digger", just according to the storyline for this story.**

* * *

><p>Mary continued her storyline with Legacy until they split up. Randy had turned face, but Mary never really worked with him in the first place. She continued her heel run with Cody and Ted up until Ted started his "Million Dollar Son" gimmick, and started to date Maryse in storyline. The entire time, Mary and Ted never once brought up their feelings, seemingly only burying it all deeper within them. When Dustin came back, he recruited his former protege, turning Mary face when she became a valet for him.<p>

When the Divas season of NXT began, Mary had been watching here and there. It began as an interest in future competition, but it soon became a guilty pleasure. The trial and error storylines were ridiculously over the top, but a definite relief to some of the storylines they were currently using on the main programs of the company. The whole thing with the Nexus made her long for her days with Legacy. She hoped that there would be better storylines in store for the near future, but she didn't hold her breath. In the mean time, she just had fun and enjoyed doing what she loved.

Since she had already been working with Dustin, when he asked her to come on NXT to join his rookie Aksana, against Alicia Fox and her rookie Maxine, in a tag team match, she was more than happy to oblige. She didn't have much interest in getting to know any of the other three women in the match, but there were two rookies that had caught her eye. AJ and Kaitlyn weren't like the other Divas on the WWE roster. They were geeky, loveable, and completely adorkable. When she watched AJ's intro speech, she literally rolled on her bed, giggling. They were just the breath of fresh air that Mary had been longing for ever since she noticed that most of her colleagues were comprised of bimbos. After using the finishing maneuver she had learned from Goldust, "Final Cut", she pinned Maxine for a three count. Instead of celebrating the win with Aksana, Mary just rolled her eyes, leaving the ring as her new theme, "I'm So Sick" by Flyleaf played.

She looked to her mentor and shrugged with a sigh. "I don't like her," She stated simply before she made her way back to the locker room to shower off and change. After showering, she pulled on a pair of baggy jeans with an oversized belt and a baby t style t-shirt. She threw on a sleeveless hoodie before leaving the locker room. She stopped as she heard Aksana on the phone. The other woman was speaking English, but her accent was so heavy that Mary could barely understand her. The only thing that she could make out was something about doing something crazy for attention and if whomever she was speaking to would be able to help her. Knowing that it could have been about a number of things, Mary just rolled her eyes and continued walking. As she made her way through the corridors, she really only had her mind on one thing, and that was getting home to her son and spend some time with him before going to house shows for the weekend. She was on her phone, checking her text messages as she ran into someone. She looked up, blinking, just to see a small Hispanic girl tumble over onto the floor. Mary gasped softly, shoving her phone into her pocket. "I'm sorry, AJ," she quickly apologized, holding out her hands to help the smaller girl up. She was blushing like mad, but she hoped that the other girl hadn't noticed.

AJ allowed the other girl to help her up, rubbing her butt a bit once she was on her feet. "Dang girl, you're solid. I would have not guessed that by just looking at you."

Mary nodded, smiling on the inside. She didn't see any romantic potential in this girl, but she would never rule out having fun. "Competing against men in developmental really toughened me up."

"So you are one of those lucky girls?" the small girl grinned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, but they're making me go up against only Divas here. I'm taking the loss, because I'm a legacy. So I'd be crazy to not take what I can get," Mary shrugged.

"Wait, you're second generation?," AJ blinked.

Mary nodded with a grin, "ever heard of Jeff Williams? He had only started out here before the accident."

AJ thought for a moment before an image came into mind. She nodded, "so you're his daughter?"

Mary held her hand out, "Maryanne Williams."

The slightly younger girl took her hand, shaking it. "April Mendez. I do actually go by AJ, though. That would explain why you hung out with Legacy."

Just then Primo walked up to the girls, "there you are, bella dama." He grinned at AJ, then turned to the girl talking to his rookie, "Mary, right?"

Mary nodded, shaking his hand. "Are you stealing away my new friend?" she pouted playfully.

"Siento, chica. We've got another silly competition to do," Primo rolled his eyes.

"Of course," Mary giggled. "Will I be seeing you at the SmackDown show on Saturday? I have a match."

"Ooh, can we go?" AJ bounced a little, grabbing Primo's arm.

Primo nodded, "definitely. We'll see you then."

…

The next week Aksana told Goldust in a backstage segment that she was facing deportation. Mary knew full well that the segments were all scripted, but something felt off about this one. After watching, she sent a text to Dustin, expressing that it was probably the least believable storyline the show has had to date.

Mary: You know that deportation line sounds full of shit, right?

Dustin: Yeah, I do. Creative sort of let's us do whatever we want on NXT.

Mary: I think that she's using you, Goldie.

Dustin: I won't let her get the best of me, I promise.

Dustin: You're invited to the "wedding" by the way.

Mary: And if I can't promise that I won't start a fight?

Dustin: I'd actually encourage that. ;)

Dustin: Would it help if I said that Cody will be there?

Mary: Why would I care if Cody was there?

Mary: But yeah, if you don't care if I beat her ass, then I'm in.

Dustin: I know how much you love to torture my little brother.

Mary: Good point. I'll be there.

So Mary would be around for another episode of NXT. Part of her agreed just so that she could see AJ again. She wasn't normally one to make friends with girls, but there was just something about the tiny Latina that Mary found herself drawn to. She needed female friends, but she was picky about what females she let into her life. AJ sounded like a girl she could like. So did Kaitlyn. She just had to meet the other girl first.


	10. Chapter 10

Mary had recently dyed her brunette locks black with bright red streaks. She knew that the attire for the night was a little on the formal side for the wedding. Even the rookie Divas wore cocktail dresses for the opening segment. Mary wasn't having any of that, though. She pulled out her "Gothic school girl" costume from the previous Halloween and wore that for the occasion. For most of the program, Mary stuck to the shadows backstage. Which was a little on the difficult part, seeing as how that episode was mostly comprised of backstage segments. After the kissing contest, in which Cody got to kiss all of the girls, except Aksana, who was getting ready for the wedding, AJ and Primo were shown backstage looking for a place to talk. Everywhere they turned hijinks ensued. Mary's favorite part was when they caught Kaitlyn making out with Dolph Ziggler. This made up for the fact that Mary didn't get to spend any time with her new friend during the program.

After getting to kiss all of the girls, Mary was waiting for Cody backstage with a huge grin on her face. She knew that even out of character, Cody enjoyed that segment. There was a glisten in her eyes, which made Cody wait for her to speak. She licked her lips before just before simply saying "damn!" and grinning even wider before.

"Okay, Farooq," he chuckled. "I take it you liked that? Or are you jealous?"

"And what pray tell, would I have to be jealous of, Mister Dashing?" she looked up at him innocently with her piercing blue eyes.

"Well, four girls did get to kiss me. Unless..." he smirked, knowing that she was bisexual.

"I won't lie, I've thought about it," she shrugged.

"She is cute. I think that she looks up to you, too." He looked around, "where is she, anyway?"

Mary giggled, "her and Primo are wandering around backstage, looking for a place to talk privately, all while coming across hilarious scenarios. I think that your dad and the Bellas are involved."

Cody rolled his eyes, "of course. He would totally hit on them."

Mary visibly shuddered, "I really can't stand them."

"I know how that is," he smiled. "Some of the Divas are ridiculous. I feel bad for you."

She took a deep breath and sighed, "maybe someday I'll prove myself, and they'll let me go against the guys."

"And make me worry every time," he pouted.

Mary rolled her eyes, "I went up against plenty of guys in OVW. Some were nearly twice my size."

"But I didn't have to see that," he sighed.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you had a thing for me," she smirked.

He shrugged, "more in a sisterly way, I believe."

"Right," she laughed as she saw some cameras coming in their direction. "Unless we want to be the next crazy scenario AJ and Primo run into, I think we should disappear."

Cody nodded, slipping away with his friend.

Later in the program, Mary went over what she would be doing in her head once more, she walked to the gorilla position during the wedding. Ted DiBiase Jr. and Maryse had just walked out onto the stage and Ted Sr. was getting ready for his entrance.

"Oh... hey Mister DiBiase," Mary bit her lip. Dustin hadn't told her that the DiBiases would be there. Otherwise, she may have declined the offer to show up. Mary hadn't seen Ted's father much since the brief period of time that she stayed with them while she was pregnant.

Ted Sr. turned to the girl next to him, giving her a quick look over. "Wait... Mary Williams?"

She sighed, nodding. "It's just a cheesy gimmick for the segment, I swear."

The older man chuckled, nodding. "I know that you would do anything to protect those boys, and it's obvious that Aksana is up to no good." He smiled, pausing as his music started, "I'll see you out there."

Mary nodded, taking a deep breath as the older gentleman made his way out onto the entrance ramp. She listened to the exchange between father and son with a laugh.

Ted looked Mary up and down, swallowing visibly as he and Maryse walked backstage. "Mare?"

Mary couldn't help but laugh as her old boyfriend lost his cool at the sight of her. "Hi Teddy Bear," she said sweetly with a grin as she was getting ready to come out as a bad-ass in Goldust's defense.

"I didn't know you were going to be here," Ted tugged at his collar.

Mary shared a smirk with Maryse, "I'm about to join the feud. Do you think you can handle it?" She quickly looked away as her music began to play, which was just as Aksana was leaving the ring.

Mary walked out onto the entrance ramp with a look of pure rage on her face. She had enough of Aksana's bullshit, and her body language spoke on many volumes of the fact. AJ, Kaitlyn, Naomi, Kelly Kelly, and Alicia Fox cheered her on as she stared down the wannabe coming up the ramp. When the tiny, then blonde, saw the intimidating woman merely feet front of her, the smug look immediately vanished. Back in the ring, the men who were just in the wedding were laughing at the sight in front of them.

Aksana began to slowly back away in fear, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have slapped him. I just didn't want to kiss him."

Mary shook her head in disgust. "Then shake his hand or kiss his cheek. You've just made a very dangerous enemy."

"No. No, please!" Aksana trembled as she continued backing away.

Mary took a step toward the other woman, "boo."

Aksana spun around, running around the ring to get away from the other woman. Mary just laughed, giving the other woman a head start before going after her, catching up to her at the announcers table. She grabbed Aksana's veil, ripping it off as she yanked her around. She grinned deviously as Aksana pleaded with her some more. Mary just shook her head and picked the other woman up and body slammed her onto the floor.

"You sure you still wanna do this?" she laughed as Goldust and Cody jumped out of the ring, each taking one of Mary's arms to prevent her from doing any further damage. "But I was just starting to have fun," she pouted.

"We'll get you a match with her next week," Goldust chuckled.

Mary sighed with a nod. "Fine." She let the brothers walk her up the ramp as she show ended.

AJ and Kaitlyn were waiting for her backstage with grins on their faces. "That was awesome!" AJ grinned, hugging Mary.

"Thanks," Mary giggled as she returned the hug.

They all walked backstage as Kaitlyn held her hand out to Mary, "hi, I'm Celeste Bonin."

Mary grinned, shaking the other girl's hand, "that's such a pretty name."

"But I guess it didn't fit my character," Kaitlyn shrugged.

"Can you hang out tonight?" AJ pouted at Mary.

Mary took a deep breath, "I just need to change and make a call, depending on what you want to do."

Kaitlyn smiled, "just dinner. We're too tired to go out for drinks after that."

"Perfect," Mary smiled. "Do you mind if my son tags along?"

"Of course not!" AJ bounced a little before heading back to the locker room with Kaitlyn.

"Such a spark plug," Dustin grinned.

Mary nodded, "that's why I'm keeping her." She grinned as she followed the other Divas back to the locker room area.

Ten minutes later, Mary met with the two younger Divas outside of the locker room with Cody and Dustin close by. "My sitter should be here in a couple of minutes to drop of Marcus."

"Awesome!" AJ smiled. "I love babies."

Mary took a deep breath, looking to Dustin and Cody. "He's not exactly a baby."

"So how old is he?" Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow.

"He's uh..." Mary bit her lip. "He is ten."

"But you're... I thought you were twenty-five," AJ's eyes went wide.

Just as she was about to respond, she heard Aksana in the distance. "What do you mean we're not actually married? How am I going to use him to get exposure now?"

Mary's eyes narrowed as Cody stepped over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Pick your battles."

"Oh, I plan on it. Like I said a bit ago, she's made a very dangerous enemy." She looked over to Dustin. "You going to be okay with this?"

Dustin grinned, "it will take a lot more than that to get one over on Goldust."

Mary nodded as the group made their way out to the parking garage, just as a car pulled up to them. She waited for the car to stop and watched a young boy get out, running over to Dustin and Cody. She smirked, rolling her eyes as she waited for her son to greet his uncles.

"I see he knows the Rhodes boys well," AJ smiled.

Mary smiled, "I moved in with Cody and their dad when I was about six months pregnant. Cody actually helped out a lot until I moved out when I went to OVW."

"So his father?" Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow.

"X-Pac," Mary nodded. "He was drunk and in a rage against WCW while I was working there."

Both of the younger girls nodded, deciding to not further question what happened, seeing as how they knew how young she was when she worked with WCW.

Marcus walked over to his mother, smiling at the other girls. "They're pretty, mama."

Mary nodded with a grin. "Yes, they are, buddy. This is AJ and Celeste."

Marcus shook hands with the other girls. "Mama, can Uncle Dustin and Uncle Cody come to eat with us?"

Mary looked up to her friends, who shrugged. "I don't see why not, buddy. Let's get going." The group all went out together, the girls getting to know Marcus and Mary, starting out an incredibly close friendship.


	11. Chapter 11

"So what all does he know?" Kaitlyn leaned in to Mary as Marcus played with Cody and Dustin.

Mary smiled softly. "He knows who his father is, he knows that what happened was bad, and he knows that I had him very young."

"So does the bastard actually know? Is he in your lives?" AJ raised an eyebrow.

Mary shook her head, "unless Scott happened to tell him. In which case, he hasn't made any sort of effort. I haven't heard from Scott, my mother, nor my siblings since the day I ran away."

"Do you want to get in touch with your siblings?" Kaitlyn frowned.

"I'm not about to call home, and they're both adults now. If they want to find me, they should know how," Mary shrugged with a sigh.

Both of the younger girls nodded before looking back to the Rhodes brothers playing with Marcus. AJ slowly turned back to Mary after a few minutes with a smirk, "Cody is really good with him."

Mary nodded, "always has been, too. He did all of the 'daddy' stuff when we were younger."

"Cody Rhodes playing 'daddy'?" Kaitlyn said loud enough for the men to hear and laughed.

"Wait... what are you talking about?" Cody blinked.

"It's true," Mary shrugged. "You are the closest thing he's ever had to a dad in his life."

Cody sighed, nodding. "I guess you're right. It does help that you lived with us, though."

"Hey!" Mary reached over, smacking Cody in the arm. "It's not like it's a bad thing. It's good that he had someone."

…

A couple of weeks later, Cody stopped Mary in the hall during a SmackDown taping. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

Mary blinked, a look of concern coming across her face, "of course, Codes. What's up?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while now," Cody paused, taking a deep breath. "You said that you still aren't fully over what happened to you one night in the Legacy locker room."

Mary nodded slowly, "yeah, what about it?"

"Well, Randy walked out rather abruptly. I know that you two had been intimate in the past. He's not exactly one to advertise his feelings, except for when it comes to Alanna," Cody took a deep breath. "I think that he took it personally."

"You mean the fact that I'm not... and we..." Mary gasped softly, slowly bringing her hand to her to her mouth as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Hey, hey..." Cody quickly pulled Mary into his arms, not caring who might happen to see. "It's gonna be okay. He knows that you trust him. In the end, that is what is going to matter most."

Mary sighed, nodding. "I had pushed it away when I was with him. I had completely forgotten it had happened."

Cody nodded with a soft smile, kissing her forehead as he pulled away from her slowly. "I'm sure he'll understand that. I think that he's just worried that he possibly caused further damage to your psyche."

Mary slowly looked up at her long time friend. "That was probably the only time in my life since then when I wasn't feeling like I was slowly getting worse."

"Mare..." Cody looked into his friend's eyes, biting his lip.

"I feel like I am still getting worse," Mary took a deep breath. "It's like as if my darkest moment is yet to come."

…

A year went by after Mary's conversation with Cody, and she had completely laid low within the Diva's division. It wasn't until a particularly rough match against with the current Diva's Champion, Kelly Kelly that Cody approached her again.

Cody walked up to Mary, scratching his neck as he blocked her path to the locker room. "Maybe I shouldn't have let you be for so long..."

"It's been a year, Cody. Where the fuck have you been?" Mary frowned.

"We work together, Maryanne. We're in the same place almost every night. The guys have been worried about you. They asked me to ask you to meet them for drinks tonight," Cody cautiously placed a hand on Mary's shoulder.

"You mean..." Mary's eyes lit up a bit. There had been rumors that John marriage had been failing, and she had avoided him ever since they had broken up.

Cody nodded, "he's been asking about you quite a bit, according to Randy."

Mary took a deep breath, "yeah, I've been spending a lot of time with AJ and Kaitlyn, but Marcus has been asking about his uncles."

"First things, first," Cody smiled. "Meet us after the tapings. You know the place. We'll arrange to visit with Marcus soon."

Mary nodded with a smile, kissing Cody's cheek before slipping into the Diva's locker room.

…

A few hours later, Mary walked into the same bar that she used to when she hung out with her friends ever time they were in that particular city. After getting herself a drink, she walked over to the table where she saw the men whom she had grown close to in her first few years on the main roster. She smiled as she sat between Cody and Randy, looking to John on the other side of Randy before looking across the table to see Ted, Zack Ryder, and Sheamus. She grinned widely. "So I hear that you've been worried about me?"

"Well, of course, lass," Sheamus raised his glass to her. "You just suddenly disappeared on us, and you weren't being used much anymore, either."

Mary nodded with a sigh. "I know. I wasn't even jobbing. I was just between storylines."

There was a collective groan of recognition sounded around the table. They all knew what it was like to between storylines in the business of professional wrestling. Ted then slowly looked up from his beer, setting the glass down. "That doesn't tell us where you were."

Mary looked down for a moment. "I was taking advantage of getting to be around my little man more."

"And how long did it take for him to start asking about us?" Randy raised an eyebrow.

"A couple of months," Mary pouted pathetically.

"Oi, the wee lad has got to be getting big enough to come visit us here soon, don't he?" Sheamus raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I've been waiting for years to meet the little guy," John frowned as he looked over to Mary.

Upon hearing John's words, Mary choked on her drink. The fact that he had called her son "little guy" was a direct indication that he still had no idea that Marcus was in fact about to turn thirteen years-old in a couple of months. She set her glass down as Cody rubbed her shoulder. "Excuse me, guys." She quickly got up, making her way to the women's restroom. She took a few deep breaths as she composed herself.

Back at the table, John, Zack, and Sheamus looked to the other men in confusion. "Should I go and check on her? Was it something I said?" John tilted his head.

Cody shook his head, "no, I've got it." He got up and made his way to the women's restroom, knocking before walking in, his eyes covered.

Mary looked up with a chuckle. "It's alright, Coddles. I'm the only one in here."

Cody dropped his hand and immediately wrapped his arms around Mary. "He doesn't know?"

Mary sighed softly as tears filled her eyes. "All he knows is that I already had Marcus five years ago when I debuted."

"You can't hide him forever, Mare. He's almost a teenager. I know him. He is very much your son. He is going to want to start training soon," Cody rubbed her back.

Mary wiped her eyes as the realization hit her. Much like herself, her son had already shown an interest in wrestling. He had begun weight training and was on his middle school wrestling team. It was only a matter of time before he was asking his mother and uncles to teach him some basic moves in professional wrestling. "I do want to come out with the truth. Just put it out there as a fact, you know."

Cody nodded with a small smile. "How about you start small? Like John and your other friends in the company, who don't already know. Then we'll start on working on working up to making it public knowledge."

"That sounds good," Mary took a deep breath. "I feel like laying down."

"Yeah, no problem," Cody lead her out of the restroom and walked back out to the table, dropping some cash onto the table before nodding to Ted and Randy. Ted got up, making his way to Mary's other side as Randy slowly got up.

John looked to Randy with concern. "Is she gonna be OK?"

Randy nodded slowly, "you guys remember nWo, right?" He left the other men with that clue before following the others out.

…

Later that night, John sat in his hotel room with Zack and Sheamus. "I do remember that Mary was in nWo for a bit."

Zack nodded, "until she was abruptly written off of television."

"Around that same time, she lived with the DiBiases for a few months," John nodded.

"And we also know that she eventually moved in with Dusty Rhodes that same year," Sheamus finished.

"Yeah... but why?" John sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. "Why did she get written off of television, and why did she leave home? She was only thirteen at the time."

"That, my friend," Sheamus laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, "is the million dollar question."

John nodded, "what makes me even more concerned is the fact that us talking about her son is what triggered her little breakdown."

"She'll come to you when she's ready," Zack nodded in confidence of their mutual friend.

…

"You guys want to stay with me," Mary pouted pathetically as she finally calmed down.

Randy chuckled as he turned out the lights before laying down on the couch in the room. "Anything for you, Mary."

Mary smiled as she situated herself between Ted and Cody. "I just don't want to be alone."

"Just like the days of Legacy," Ted smiled as he brought an arm around Mary.

"Only we're a lot more sober," Mary nodded.

Cody and Randy shared a look across the room that was only lit by the television screen, but chose not to say anything as they noticed how cozy Mary and Ted were getting.

"I was afraid to cuddle while we were drunk," Ted admitted through a yawn.

"Oh yeah? Why is..." Mary fell asleep mid-sentence, with the three men not saying anything else until they each fell asleep as well.


	12. Chapter 12

October 31st, 2011 – Monday Night RAW

April Mendez never really had any romantic interaction in her near 25 years of life. All of the boys never really looked at her as someone they could possibly date. This could have been because she did things that were considered to be more "male oriented", rather than all of the things the other girls were doing. She did date Jay Lethal, the man who trained her in wrestling, but it wasn't anything serious. So as a WWE Diva, many things were new to her. The Divas were known for using sex as a weapon, but this was just something that AJ had no real knowledge of. However, she just wasn't about to go around admitting that to just anyone.

Just a week earlier, she was approached by the creative team to possibly start a romantic line with fellow newcomer to WWE, Bryan Danielson, who was going under the ring name Daniel Bryan, after his previous storyline left the company. Despite not actually interacting very much in their time on NXT she figured it may be a good opportunity. Going in for this line with Bryan would definitely do the same for AJ. So she figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out. She would discuss the possibilities with the superstar and see where it could possibly go.

Halloween was a special night for the WWE. It happened to land on a Monday that year, and the company decided to put on one of their "super shows" in which competitors from the SmackDown brand could come onto RAW for more exposure. That night, they held the annual Halloween costume Divas battle royal for a number one contender spot for the Divas Championship. That night, AJ dressed up as Kitana from the Mortal Kombat series. It was her first Halloween battle royal, and where she knew she wasn't going to win, but she had hoped to make an impression in other ways. Like most female video game characters, Kitana was portrayed in a sexual manner, but AJ found a version best suiting her, along with knowing that she had to keep things "PG" for the show's current format.

After the match, AJ went back to the locker room and showered off before changing back into her normal clothing for the rest of the night. As she made her way down to the dressing room area she was approached by a somewhat large man, in comparison to herself anyway, which caught her off-guard. She jumped back, gasping a little.

"Sorry, sorry!" The face of the company quickly apologized for scaring the petite Diva, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's April, right?"

AJ slowly looked up to meet the eyes of John Cena and smiled. "John Cena? Excuse me while I fan-girl a moment."

John chuckled at the adorableness of the young Diva, letting her soak in the fact that it was in fact one of her idols talking to her. "Take your time, darling."

She felt her cheeks flush, feeling silly for acting in such a manner around one of her coworkers. She hadn't been with the company for very long yet. So she did tend to get a little starstruck every now and again amongst some of the bigger names. "Sorry," she giggled. "And yes, I'm April. You can call me AJ, though. It's actually a nickname."

He nodded with a small grin, but his demeanor quickly changed. "You're friends with Mary Williams, right?"

AJ's eyes widened, she knew there had to be a reason why she had been approached by one of the biggest superstars in the company. She saw that she was at her dressing room, so she quickly opened the door and grabbed his wrist, pulling him inside. "It's you?"

"Me what? I just wanted to ask if you've heard from her in the past few weeks. I can't help but feel like she's avoiding me." He swallowed hard as he closed the door behind himself. It had been six weeks since he had heard any word on the girl he once thought could be the one for him, and he was genuinely concerned about how things were left the last time he saw her.

"The one who's got her so twisted," AJ bit her lip. "Celeste and I knew it had to involve a guy."

"Celeste?" John tilted his head in curiosity.

"Kaitlyn, sorry. Yeah, I know it tends to get a little confusing. I may love this business, but I never quite understood the need for everyone to go by fake names," AJ took a deep breath.

"I know. I'm one of the lucky few," John chuckled softly. "But you didn't answer my question, hon."

AJ looked down, playing with her hair. She was looking for the right words to explain the situation to him without really giving much away.

"It's a simple question, AJ. I just want to know if she's alright. Randy told me to think about her time in nWo, and... " John stopped mid-sentence when he saw the young Diva's head snap to attention. "So you do know about that," it was more of a statement than a question. He already had his answer by her reaction.

"John, you know I can't tell you anything," she pleaded with him. "But as far as I know, she _is_ okay. Celeste and I have barely spoken to her in weeks. I actually had to ask Cody myself last week at SmackDown, and he assured me that she's fine. And I'm sure that she's not around tonight because she made it clear that she has no interest in the Divas Championship."

"That may be my fault. At least partly," the former champion admitted with a sigh. "A group of us went out to a bar one night and I mentioned wanting to meet her son, and..."

AJ held up her hand with a sigh, causing him to stop. "Look, I can tell that you care about her. In which case I hope that you can just be patient and let her come to you on her own."

John gave her a bit of a puppy dog pout, wanting a little more.

The tiny girl sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "I can give you random updates on her. Nothing too in depth."

Finally satisfied, John took her hand, shaking it as he leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek. "Thank you. This really means a lot to me. I've been getting shut out by Randy regarding her."

AJ pouted, the thought of Kaitlyn shutting her out over anything killed her inside, so she really felt for John in that moment. "Just give her time, John. She's been through a lot."

The older man smiled, nodding as he opened the door once more and started to walk out of the room. As he was about to leave the doorway turned his head with a small smirk, "you say I've got her twisted, huh?"

AJ pursed her lips, kicking him in the butt playfully. "You're married, mister. Just go or I'll reconsider keeping you updated on her."

"Going!" he laughed as he retreated down the hall.

AJ shook her head as she stood in her doorway, considering to stick around and play a video game, but decided against it. She left her dressing room, going in the opposite direction that John had just gone, and went for a walk. She passed by a number of crew members and superstars in the halls of the arena, politely greeting each one with a smile on her face until she ran into Cody. She stopped, blocking his path and tossed her hair aside. "John Cena?"

"No, I'm Cody Rhodes. You know that," the Intercontinental Champion scoffed in pure arrogance.

AJ rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "No, I just had a little chat with John... about Mary."

Cody's face fell, his body tensing up. He grabbed AJ's wrist, pulling her aside. "What did you tell him?"

"Chill, Cody," she took a deep breath. "I just told him that she's okay. I don't get it. He's married."

Cody looked around, making sure that no one was around before pulling her into the nearest empty room. "Yes, I know that he's married. That's part of the reason she's been so scarce lately. They should be together."

AJ sighed heavily, frowning as she ran her fingers through her dark hair. "She ended it because of Marcus, didn't she?"

Cody nodded, biting his lip. "Partly, anyway. We all know that he is a very understanding guy, and he most likely would be okay with everything."

"That still didn't stop her from being scared. That kid is everything to her. That's why she's never fully given herself to anyone, isn't it?" AJ looked down, hoping to avoid having the topic getting turned onto her.

"Well she did come close with Randy... that just didn't work out in that way for them," Cody shrugged with a small laugh.

"By what she's told Celeste and I, it was all pure heat between her and Randy. Basically, there isn't anything they didn't do together," AJ felt her cheeks burning at the subject, not having any experience with it personally.

"Yeah, apparently their sex life was insane. Not that it's any of our business." Cody paused, blinking as he studied the expression of the small Diva in front of him. "AJ... is something wrong?"

"Yeah, sorry," she started, biting her lip. "It's just that I'm about to start a storyline with Daniel Bryan, and I just... I don't know..."

"Are you really that inexperienced? I just thought... back on NXT there were all of those incredibly cheesy storylines... AJ, was I really your first kiss?" Cody looked on in pure shock.

AJ slowly looked up, a look of complete innocence on her face. "Yeah... So far every time I've kissed a guy, it's been on screen."

"You could have fooled me," he smiled, hoping to boost her spirits. "You knocked me off my feet in more ways than one."

With that confession, AJ blushed the deepest shade of red she had in her entire life. "Thanks, Cody. That really means a lot to me. I guess that I'm just nervous. I mean... I barely know Bryan."

Cody nodded, pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around her for a comforting hug. "How about this? I'll be your romantic coach, so to speak. You can come to me with your scripts, and I'll run through them with you to help you with how to portray yourself around him on camera."

AJ grabbed onto his shirt, inhaling his scent. "This almost makes me wish they didn't have me try to tell Primo that I was into him that same night. I probably would have tried asking you out."

Cody chewed the inside of his bottom lip as he watched the girl slowly raise her head to look at him. Before he got a chance to respond their lips met. The kiss was sweet and innocent. Unfortunately, it lacked the spark that their first kiss had ignited a year earlier. As they pulled away, they both heaved a sigh. Looking into one another's eyes, they knew that the other hadn't felt anything. "At the time, I would have went for it," he finally whispered after a few moments of silence.

AJ nodded, choosing to not pull away from his embrace. She knew that their moment had long since passed, and she accepted that. "I'll take that coaching offer, though."

Cody smiled, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair. He wondered if he was starting to feel the same for this girl as he did for Mary. That thought made him wonder if that meant he was going soft. Shaking it off, he decided that he didn't care. If he was only like this for a couple of girls, then he would be okay with it. As long as he could stay the same way he did around the rest of the world, he would be happy. "We can start tomorrow at the SmackDown tapings."

After thinking for a few moments, the twenty-four year old Diva tilted her head. "Cody... you're usually a jerk to most everyone. Even backstage."

"Well, not completely. Though, I admit that I do have a bit of an arrogance problem. But yeah, I know that this is a rare side of me. I usually only show it around Mary. She's special, though." Cody shrugged it off, his cocky smirk returning.

"Does that mean I'm special, too?" AJ raised an eyebrow, not letting him get away with it.

Cody sighed, shaking his head. "You are. You may not be as much of an Achilles's heel for me as she is, but I am finding myself having a soft spot for you. Don't let it get out though!" he laughed, playfully tweaking her nose.

AJ shook him off with a giggle. "I won't. Do you really think that anyone would believe me?"

"Outside of Mary, Randy, and Ted? Probably no one," he laughed. "Well, except for John, Sheamus, and Zack now. They've all seen me with her."

"You mean that night at a bar a few weeks ago?" AJ asked, biting her lip.

"He told you?" Cody tilted his head skeptically.

AJ shrugged, "only mentioned that he had asked about Marcus and he noticed that it had upset her."

Cody sighed, nodding. "She can't keep it from him forever. Especially after that night. We saw unresolved feelings from both of them that night."

AJ pouted, looking down for a moment. "I don't see this ending well..."

Cody bit his lip, nodding in agreement. "Neither do I."

* * *

><p><strong>I'd just like to point out to everyone reading this, that had already read "My Happy Ending" in the past, the chapters look awful familiar for a reason. This is a re-write, so I am editing chapters right now, making them a better fit for the new version that I have created.<strong>

**Also, I am not sure which of my stories I will be writing next. There is a poll up in my profile with titles and brief descriptions of the fics I have already began planning out. You're feedback will help me choose which one to start working on first. Much appreciated. Please R&R this, and all of my stories!**


	13. Chapter 13

November 15th, 2011 – Smackdown tapings.

Mary made her way to ringside during a mid-card match between Heath Slater and newcomer Levi Williams. She took a seat next to Josh Matthews, putting on a headset and shook the hands of the three men on commentary. She sat back and smiled as her presence was announced.

"Well, well look at who we have here," Booker T started with a chuckle.

"Ladies and gentleman of the WWE Universe, joining us at ringside, the former two time Women's Champion, Mary Williams," Michael Cole continued the introduction.

"And may I ask why are you here, exactly?" The ever clueless Josh Matthews looked to the woman beside him.

Mary just smirked, rolling her eyes. "Take a good look at the new guy, Josh."

After a few minutes of silence from commentary, Josh finally spoke up again. "Same hair, same eyes... definitely a lot of the same moves... By chance, are you somehow related to this guy?"

"Yes," Mary smiled proudly, "he's my little brother." She cleared her throat as she saw the match begin to dip into Heath's favor. Which was something she just simply could not have. "Excuse me boys," Mary got up to "get a closer look" at the match. She smiled at Heath Slater in a flirtatious manner in hopes of distracting her brother's competitor. She continued in her actions as Heath noticed and walked over to the ropes, starting to show off for her. She stepped away with a smirk as Levi took advantage and grabbed Heath from behind for a roll-up and a quick win. She laughed as her music began to play, seeing as how Levi didn't have his own yet, and entered the ring to congratulate him. They left the ring, still laughing and walked up the ramp. She raised her brother's hand one more time at the top before slipping backstage.

Upon reaching the locker rooms, they were met by Cody. Mary hugged her brother. "Damn Levi, when I said maybe we'd meet in the ring someday, I didn't mean a lifetime later."

"Sorry, sorry. We both know that I'm not nearly as good as you are, sis. I needed just a few more years in the minors before being called up," The younger Williams sibling chuckled as he returned the hug for a moment before turning to Cody, pulling him in for a man hug. "I see you kept your promise. She looks well taken care of."

Cody smiled, returning the embrace. "Well, I've been one of a few. Your sister is truly a great woman."

Just then they heard the sound of two men applauding as they walked up to the small group. Mary looked up to see Randy and Ted joining them. She smiled, "speaking of the devils. Hey Teddy Bear, look who I found."

Ted chuckled, pulling Levi in for an extremely tight hug. "Damn, what took you so long?"

"I already got this from my sister," Levi shook his head as he turned to Randy. "I've been riding the indy circuit for a few years."

"Great job out there," Randy smiled at the newcomer, shaking his hand. "Maybe it won't be so long until you face me out there if you keep that up."

This caused Cody and Ted to roll their eyes as Mary giggled. "And these are only half of the guys I normally surround myself with. I just... haven't spoke to the other half lately." She bit her lip, looking down.

Levi tilted his head as he looked to the other men in question. "Mare, you've got to quit doing these things to yourself. It's not healthy."

She sighed, "I know, bubba. Just... go shower off. We'll talk after the show." She shook her head as she pushed her way past the four men and ran off down the hall.

"I'm sorry guys," Levi sighed. "You've probably already been dealing with a lot from her."

"You're heart is in the right place, man," Cody placed a hand on Levi's shoulder. "She just..."

"She's been extra fragile lately. I'm sure she'll fill you in eventually," Randy finished before turning and heading into the direction that Mary had just went in, Cody and Ted close behind him.

Mary had managed to keep herself away from her friends and brother for the rest of the night, eventually leaving with AJ and Kaitlyn before the guys even knew the girls had left. She hated relying on these men so much because it had gotten to the point where she began to feel weaker because of it. As much as she loved her boys and adored the caring nature of her relationships with them, she was still an independent woman. She longed for the feeling of standing on her own two feet. Once the three women were securely in Mary's hotel room, they all sat on the bed. Mary sighed, having a feeling that she knew what was coming.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were in love with John?" AJ finally spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

Mary hung her head as Kaitlyn blinked a few times. Kaitlyn mouthed "Cena" to her best friend, who nodded in confirmation.

The eldest Diva in the room bit her lip as she slowly looked up to her friends in shame. "Because that would involve admitting to it. Which... I never have," she shrugged, taking a deep breath.

"So he really doesn't know how you feel?" AJ ran her fingers through her hair.

Mary just shook her head, not knowing what to say.

"Because um... I think he's starting to regret his marriage after what happened a couple of months ago," AJ finally decided to get a little harsh with her friend, sensing that the older girl needed it.

Mary swallowed hard, looking to the girls on either side of her. She felt her blood grow cold and her heart grow warm all at the same time with a mix of emotions from the thought of getting another chance with John. "I just can't do it. I can't be with anyone. No one will understand. I'm not good enough for anyone. I'm nothing."

The younger girls both frowned, not knowing how to react to the confession from their friend. In that moment, they knew it was going to take a lot more to fix things for Mary, and they couldn't do it alone.

…

November 21st, 2011 – Monday Night RAW

She knew that she had taken a huge risk in coming that night, but she was booked for a match. She couldn't exactly back out of it if she didn't want to explain why. At one point in the time leading up to the event, Mary considered going straight to Stephanie McMahon-Hemsley, and telling her friend the truth about wanting to avoid going to the main show in the company, but she didn't. There were a lot of people there that night backstage, so she knew that she could easily slip away and lose herself into the crowd, avoiding anyone she felt that she needed to avoid. Or well, she had hoped at least.

After securing the win in a six Diva tag match, Mary was making her way to the locker room when she was stopped by a familiar face. She bit her lip, slowly looking into his eyes. "Hi John," she whispered.

"Mary..." he nodded, slowly bringing his arms around her, hoping for a simple hug.

The Diva sighed, unable to deny the man she loved something as little as a hug. She slipped her arms around his waist, trying not to cry right out there in the hallway.

"I've missed you Mary. I'm sorry for whatever I said to hurt you." The former champion kissed the top of her head.

"And I'm sorry that I lied to you," she whispered as she pulled away and slipped into the Diva's locker room. She simply hated the thought of being the reason his marriage was possibly ending, and she didn't want to show any signs of how she felt in the least.

A few minutes later, Mary ran into CM Punk, looking very distraught. She was ready to leave, and she simply did not want to deal with anything else. After bumping into him, she looked up, biting her lip. "Sorry."

"No harm," Punk shook his head. "Is everything alright?"

"Not really. I've just got a lot going on. I'm going to slip out of here if I can," Mary sighed.

Punk nodded, actually relieved that she didn't feel like sharing what was going on. "Well, I hope that you figure things out."

Mary smiled softly, "thanks." She continued her mission to find who of her friends could leave early with her.

Fifteen minutes later Mary was heading out of the arena with Levi, AJ, Cody, and Ted, only to be stopped by John Laurinaitis, the interim general manager for Monday Night RAW, with cameras in tow. They hadn't expected for their leaving the show early to become a kayfabe situation, but they were professionals, so they ran with it. This meaning that Cody had to quickly get out of the view of the cameras, being that he was no longer friends with Ted in storyline.

"Hey, you people can't leave yet. The show isn't over," the senior vice president of talent relations was obviously trying to throw his weight around with his new on air role.

The group of friends sighed, rolling their eyes.

"Can we just not with this right now?" Mary groaned.

"You can't talk to me like that! I'm the..." the hoarse gentleman began to spout off his title just as another face joined the scene.

"You aren't allowed to tell them when they can and can't leave after they've done their part for tonight's show. They're all on the SmackDown roster, and not under your authority," CM Punk shot a wink to Mary, who responded with a small smile. "They have nothing else to do here tonight, so they have every right to choose to leave. They may have an emergency situation to attend to."

"You know what," the show's general manager waved the group off, "just go."

As Laurinaitis and the cameras left the group, they all turned to the WWE Champion in question, except for Mary. She didn't know why he had gone out of his way to stand up for them, but she was thankful nonetheless.

"Thanks Punk," Mary smiled sweetly with a sigh. "We were really hoping to avoid that."

Punk nodded, "no problem. I'll see you guys around."

Mary nodded, smirking at the way that the champion and her female friend were looking at one another. "Enjoy the rest of the show, Phil. I'll see you around."

CM Punk saluted the group of friends before heading back to the main part of the arena, getting ready to make his next appearance in the episode.

The friends all piled into one rental car, Levi in the driver seat as the rest turned to Mary. Levi pulled out of the parking lot as Mary swallowed visibly.

"Talk, Maryanne," Cody ordered as AJ got comfortable in between them.

Mary took a deep breath. "I ran into John."

A collective sigh was heard by everyone in the car, except for Levi, who raised an eyebrow at his sister. "Cliff notes me?"

"I dated John Cena for a minute a few years back. I chickened out just as things started to go somewhere," Mary shrugged.

Levi nodded, "gotta love unresolved feelings."

"I'm ready to tell John everything," Mary stated with complete confidence. "It's just a matter of how to do it."

…

Later that night John sat in a bar with Zack, Sheamus, and Rey Mysterio, drunker than any of the men had ever seen him. "She said that she lied to me. What could she have possibly lied about?"

"I don't know, bro," Zack slowly reached over to take the bottle that his friend was currently nursing. "But drinking yourself into oblivion won't help you figure it out."

"Yeah man," Rey chimed in. "You know how stubborn she is. If she wants to tell you what she lied about, she'll tell you."

"That's easy for you to say, Rey. At least you know more about her than I do. Your wife is taking care of her son," John slurred, obviously having hit his limit for the night.

"Just because I'm being a good friend, that doesn't mean I know why she left you. There could be a number of reasons. Some people just have really screwed up lives." Rey sighed, fearing he may have said a bit too much.

"But I'm a grown man!" John slammed his fist onto the table, "I could have handled her issues. I _want_ to handle her issues. And I think that Liz may be starting to see that..." John started to get up. "I want another beer. Someone get me another beer."

Sheamus quickly stood up, rushing to his friend's side and steadying him. "Looks like it's time for us to call it a night."

The other two men nodded, paying the tab and ushering John out of the bar. They helped him to his hotel room and got him into bed. The three friends shook their heads as they watched the face of the company pass out in front of them.

"I'll stay," Zack volunteered, to which the other two men nodded.

"Check and see if he has any appearances in the morning and figure out something to do about them if he does," Rey suggested. There was no way that John Cena would be able to face the public in the morning, and they all knew it. He looked to the other two men before slipping out to make his way to his own hotel room, "I'll talk to her. He's only going to get worse."

Zack and Stephen nodded as the latter followed Rey out, needing to get some rest before filming SmackDown the next day.


	14. Chapter 14

November 22nd, 2011

The next morning, Mary was unusually chipper. She woke up next to AJ, fully clothed, which did make Mary pout a little, but she knew it was for the best. A sense of relief that she hadn't felt in years was now engulfing her entire being. She should have been honest with John from the very beginning, but she was only human. She was bound to make mistakes. Today was a new day. She had years to make up for, and she was going to start right then and there. She showered and began getting ready for the day. After getting dressed and doing her hair, she pulled out her phone, dialing Rey Mysterio's number. She tilted her head as she thought she heard a familiar ring tone coming from the main door of her hotel suite. Blinking, she waited to see what happened next.

"Open the door," Rey's voice came through her phone, echoing through the doorway as he laughed.

Mary shook her head at herself as she opened the door and hung up her phone. "Well, then. Good morning. Is everything alright? Is Marcus is okay?"

"Angie has your number, bella dama. If there was an emergency with your son, she'd call you personally," Rey chuckled.

Mary blinked, nodding. "Right, right." She stepped aside to let her friend into her room, pointing toward the bedroom to show a sleeping AJ on the bed and motioned for him to stay at least somewhat quiet.

Rey smirked, raising his eyebrow at his friend playfully. "A little fun on the side?"

"Ha. Ha." Mary rolled her eyes. "I'm open to that, but no. AJ and I just fell asleep watching a movie."

The Hispanic gentleman nodded, taking a deep breath. "So why were you calling me?"

Mary found a chair to sit in, waiting for Rey to do the same. "I'm ready."

It didn't take much for the man on the other side of the table to know exactly what she was talking about. "That's actually the reason why I'm here. Well, it's on that subject anyway. I'm sure John is hung over right now."

Mary bit her lip as she propped her elbow up on the table. She closed her eyes as she rested her forehead on her palm. "I should have seen it coming. We... sort of had a moment last night."

Rey nodded, understanding that the whole situation was a huge mess. "I don't think that you're the only reason his marriage is falling apart," he offered in hope of making her feel a little better on the subject.

Mary swallowed hard, running her fingers through her brunette locks. "He doesn't know how old Marcus is. Randy just told him that I may have ended things because of my son. John just seems to assume that he's like six, or something."

The older man shrugged, "well, there is no time like the present to tell him. Are you sure that you are ready for this?"

Mary took a deep breath as she nodded, "yeah, I want to get through telling John everything before starting this plan that I have. That's what I was about to call you about. Do you think that it's okay if I have him meet me at your house on Friday? The best way to tell him is to show him in this case."

"Yeah, of course," the man nodded as he turned to see AJ stirring. "I'll call Angie and make sure everything is set up. I'd call Marcus tonight, if I were you. Wait until after the SmackDown tapings, he has wrestling practice."

Mary giggled, nodding. "Yeah, she's a little awkward. She may freak if you're here when she wakes up."

Rey smiled, getting up and kissing the top of Mary's head. "See you at the show." He walked over to the door, letting himself out.

Mary got up and stood in the doorway of the bedroom area of her hotel suite as AJ slowly sat up. "Morning sleepyhead," she smiled at her young friend.

"We didn't..." AJ rubbed her head, looking around in confusion.

The older girl couldn't help but laugh. "April Jeannette Mendez, are you serious? Don't you remember attempting to watch the Battleship movie last night?"

"Oh yeah... right, right," she blushed, stretching. "I also remember raiding the minibar. That's why I asked."

Mary shook her head as she sat down on the bed. "Nothing happened, AJ. I care way too much about you to let something like that happen. My first time that counted was with Randy. It was beautiful and we were both one hundred percent sober. I want nothing less than that for you." Just as she got the last bit out her phone began to play "Voices" by Rev Theory. The girls shared a laugh as Mary stood up, answering the phone. "So... are we in trouble?"

"_No, in fact that segment is the most talked about from last night. You all did an amazing job,"_ the grin on Randy's face showed in his voice.

"Are we allowed to hit Laurinaitis? I was already going through enough shit last night. That was uncalled for," Mary sighed.

"_That's sort of why I wanted to talk to you. What's up with you and Punk? Since when you were you friends with him?"_

"I'm not," Mary shrugged, despite the fact that Randy couldn't actually see her. "Well, at least not yet. He seems like a cool guy, though." She turned to look at AJ who was making her way to the bathroom, "go ahead and shower in here, you never made it to your room, so your stuff is in here."

"_Don't tell me you fucked someone last night," _Randy sighed into the phone. _"You may get another chance with John. I know you want that."_

Mary couldn't help but laugh. "No, I just shared my bed with a cute little virgin. We attempted to watch a bad movie and fell asleep."

"_Oh, so that's where AJ ended up. Celeste was wondering." _Randy took a deep breath, _"now for the serious..."_

"I've already gotten some of the serious this morning. Rey was just here. John is most likely hung over. I'm telling him on Friday," Mary quickly got out before Randy could finish.

"_What exactly are we telling him now?_" Randy asked, wanting to keep things straight.

"Well... I am going to start with telling him that I was never in love with you, then I'm going to introduce him to Marcus," Mary swallowed hard, still afraid of how John would react. "Hopefully things fall into place after that."

"_Sounds good to me. I think I'll go check on my best friend. Well, I'm going to see if he still is my best friend..."_ Randy sighed into the phone.

Mary bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Randy. You know I am."

"_It's not your fault, I am the one who let it get to this. Let's just hope that he's not too far gone. I'll see you in a few hours." _Randy hung up before Mary could say anything else.

Mary shook her head as she opened the text message editor on her phone and selected John's name. She took a deep breath as she entered a brief, yet definitive message.

"If you want answers. I'm ready to give them to you. Come to San Diego on Friday. Meet me at Rey's house for dinner."

She sent the message, somewhat hoping that that John would get the message before Randy made it to his room.

…

John Cena woke up slowly, groaning as he sat up. As he opened his eyes, Zack handed him a cup of coffee. "Thanks man," he took the cup, immediately taking a drink. "Did anyone get the number of the train that hit me?" he laughed at himself.

Zack laughed as he picked up John's phone, seeing a new text notification window pop up, just as there was a knock on the door. "It's from Mary..."

John quickly took the phone as Zack got up and answered the door for his friend. He opened the message, his eyes widening as he saw Randy walk into the room. "Okay, I really need to figure out what happened after Mary hit the showers last night."

"It seems that she got cock slapped by reality, and seeing you helped," Randy sat down in a chair by the bed.

John shook off the image that put in his head and took another drink of his coffee. "It looks like she may be mine just yet..."

Randy nodded, "she wants to tell you. This is huge."

Zack coughed, looking toward John's wedding ring.

John shrugged, setting his phone down. "I think that Liz may be cheating, anyway."

Randy sighed sympathetically. "They can't all take us being on the road all of time."

The hung over man sitting on the bed nodded. "It happens. I think that everyone knew I wasn't meant to be with her, anyway."


	15. Chapter 15

Later that night, SmackDown Tapings.

The show was about to start in an hour and AJ was making her way to Cody's dressing room, hoping he would be there. She couldn't get the image of the WWE Champion coming to the aide of the group of friends the night before when John Laurinaitis attempted to stop them from leaving early. She hadn't actually met CM Punk yet, but she suddenly felt herself wanting to get to know him. This was something that AJ found incredibly odd. She didn't think that she shared anything in common with this man, yet she was fully intrigued by him. As she reached the door with Cody's name on it, she took a deep breath, knocking.

"Come in," a rather familiar female voice called out.

AJ tilted her head. What was Mary doing in Cody's room? She quickly shook her head as she remembered how close Cody and Mary were, and that it was perfectly normal for them to be hanging out as she slowly opened the door, looking to see Mary on the couch. "Hey Mare, is Cody..." Just as she was about to finish her sentence, she saw a shirtless Cody out of the corner of her eye, causing her to blush.

"Too much for you?" Cody chuckled as he ran his hand along his toned abs.

"It's different up close and in person," the young Diva stuttered out.

Mary rolled her eyes as she threw Cody his t-shirt to throw on. "So I take it you have your new scripts?" the older Diva patted the spot on the couch next to her.

AJ nodded as she plopped down next to the older girl, getting very cozy.

Cody raised an eyebrow as he watched the interaction of the two Divas, pulling a chair up in front of them. "Is there something you two want to tell me?"

Mary playfully smacked her male friend's knee with a laugh. She took the small stack of papers from the other girl and looked them over. "Gosh, the interaction between you and Bryan is ridiculously cute. I hope they keep you two together for a while."

AJ nodded as Cody stole the scripts from Mary. "Which is actually better for me. I'd rather have something I can handle."

Mary smiled as she looked to the younger Diva. "Cute fits you. I bet it'll work for him, as well."

Cody nodded as he turned his attention to the younger woman in the room. "It looks like everything is rather cut and dry for you tonight. Just be your adorable self, and everything should play out nicely."

AJ smiled as she leaned into Mary, looking up as there was a knock on the door. Cody got up to answer, letting the smaller man inside.

"Ah, I had a feeling you'd be hanging out with Mary," Daniel Bryan walked into the room. "When I didn't see that she had her own dressing room, I took a chance."

"Sweet," Mary grinned as she brought an arm around the younger girl. "Foursome time! You in Bryan?"

Daniel raised his eyebrow as he looked over to Cody, who laughed at the newer Superstar. "Is she...serious?" The World Heavyweight Champion pointed to the sight in front of them.

Cody shrugged, smirking playfully. "With the way that these two have been lately, it's hard telling. I heard they even had a little sleepover last night."

"Hey," Mary looked up, laughing. "We were trying to watch Battleship. Plus, I'm just warming her up for you."

"Is she always like this behind the scenes?" The Washington native chuckled at the open nature of the Diva.

Cody shrugged, "for the most part, yes. She had been really down for a couple of months. Now it seems she's back to her old self after an all night cuddle session with a very cute girl."

Mary rolled her eyes, and kissed AJ's temple before getting up. "Hey, if you were facing the possibility of getting some for the first time in eight years, you'd be in a good mood as well."

Daniel and AJ's eyes both widened, nearly popping out of their heads at what the young mother said, not able to come up with any sort of response.

"Eight years?" Cody questioned his friend as she walked passed him and went for the door. "Wouldn't that mean before you were with..." He blinked as Mary walked out the door and closed it behind her.

The room fell silent for a few moments before Daniel made a sound effect and motion to tell the other two that his mind had just been blown.

Cody shook his head, doing a Vanna White pose toward the door. "Maryanne Williams, everyone. Never a dull moment with her in your life."

AJ timidly got up, walking over to Cody and studying his face. She bit her lip as she looked into the Intercontinental Champion's eyes.

"Please don't..." the Georgia native whispered to her.

She gasped softly, quickly covering her mouth. She grabbed her scripts and grabbed the wrist of the other champion in the room. "Come on, Bryan. We should leave him alone."

Once they were out of the room and on their way down the hall to the other man's dressing room, Daniel looked to the petite Diva questioningly. "What did I just witness?"

AJ shook her head, "Mary is just... special. I guess that can be expected from someone who spent a lot of their formative years backstage. It's a really long story. And oh, she can never find out what I just figured out."

"And that is..." he tilted his head, studying the panicking Diva.

"I think that Cody may be falling for her," she bit her lip, running her fingers through her hair. "That's the last thing we need right now."

…

A half hour later, Mary was stopped in the hall by her male best friend. She grinned, bouncing a little. "Hi Randy!"

"Well, hello Princess," he blinked, hugging her. "You really are in a good mood today."

She nodded, "I don't think anything could bring me down." Just then she felt her phone in her pocket, "excuse me." She unlocked her phone to see a text from John, which only made her grin wider. "He said yes!"

"That's great, Mare!" he hugged her again, tighter this time. "Everything is going to work out for you. I just know it."

Just then AJ skipped up to them, noticing that Mary was only looking happier than she had been the last time she had seen her. "Hey girl, what's up?"

"John is going to meet Marcus on Friday. It's like a million pounds has been lifted off of my chest. Whether he jumps into my arms that moment or not, it won't matter. He'll know, and that's all that really matters at this point." Mary smiled, slipping her arm around the waist of the younger girl.

"That's awesome!" AJ leaned into her friend. "I was actually hoping to find you because Bryan isn't able to come to the ring with me for my match in a few minutes, and I'm going against Beth..."

Mary laughed, nodding. "No problem, sweetheart. I've got your back." She looked up to Randy, "I'll see you later?"

"Of course," he nodded to his best female friend. He then turned to AJ, "good luck out there."

AJ smiled sweetly, thanking him before the girls disappeared together. They made their way to the gorilla position. When the technician noticing that Mary was with AJ he asked if they wanted the ring announcer to announce that Mary was going to accompany AJ. The girls both nodded as the opening chords of "Let's Light it Up" by Kari Kimmel began to play. AJ skipped out the ramp and paused, looking back a moment, waiting for Mary to be announced. After hearing her name, Mary stepped out to the side of her female best friend with a grin.

"Looks like we've got an equalizer here, guys," Josh Matthews chuckled.

"Which is exactly what the tiny one needed," Booker T nodded. "With Natalya ringside, AJ had no chance against the Glamazon."

The match was well fought by AJ, but she was really just no match for the much larger woman. Mary did attempt to cheat at one point, helping her friend out, but that was thwarted by her long time friend. A fight broke out ringside as the match continued. By the time Beth hit the "Glam Slam" on AJ two more referees were outside the ring, pulling the other Divas off of each other. Once there was ample distance between Mary and Natalya, Mary retreated, climbing up onto the apron and stepping into the ring to help AJ out. The brunettes let the blondes walk up the ramp before Mary helped AJ out of the ring and to the backstage. Once they were cleared of the cameras, they ran into Beth and Natalya, who were laughing and applauding.

"Congrats, Williams, I think that you just caused a Diva feud that the fans may actually care about," Natalya grinned.

"Thanks, Nattie," Mary pulled the other woman in for a hug. "I was wondering if we'd ever get to work together."

The girls all grinned as they headed into the Divas locker room together, AJ last. She paused as she saw Cody peeking from the men's locker room across the hall with a sullen look upon his face. She gave him a sympathetic look before joining the other women.

Cody took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "What am I going to do?"

* * *

><p><strong>Haha! Small plot twist. Deal with it! Please R&amp;R, then hop on over to my profile to take my poll.<strong>


	16. Chapter 16

November 25th, 2011

Mary had been pacing in the family room of the Gutierrez house for two hours. They weren't expecting John quite yet, but she was obviously nervous. Marcus and Rey's son Dominik were playing Xbox in the room, so Mary had to do her best not to walk in front of the screen.

Getting to the point where the boys had enough, they paused the game and Marcus looked up to his mother. "He's not even late yet, mom. You know how airlines are. He probably hasn't landed yet. I'm sure he'll call you as soon as he gets here."

Just as Mary was about to respond, "Basic Thuganomics" began playing on her phone.

"Isn't that his old music?" Dominik tilted his head at his best friend's mother.

Mary nodded with a shrug. "I liked his character better then." She walked out of the room to answer her phone. "And here I was actually thinking you were backing out on me."

There was a chuckle on the other side of the line, "_you're the one who ended things with me. I'm just glad you're done running._"

"Believe me, I'm emotionally exhausted. I'm just ready to be out with everything." Mary sighed, looking over to her son, who was already back into his video game.

"_And I'm ready to hear everything," _John grabbed his luggage and headed for the exit of the airport._ "I just got in and am about to hop into a cab. I should see you in about twenty minutes._"

"Sounds good to me. See you then," Mary smiled as she ended the call. "I love you," she whispered. Sure, she hadn't said it to him, but saying it was a huge relief for her to say it out loud.

Just then, Rey's wife, Angie, popped her head in the doorway. "Was that John, sweetie?"

Mary nodded, "he should be here in about twenty."

The older woman nodded, "well, dinner will be ready in about a half hour. That gives you time to get your confessions in."

Mary nodded with a smile, taking a deep breath. She began pacing again, more frantically this time. Because of this, she decided to stay out of the room where the teenage boys were playing, so that she would not disturb them. This ending up being a good thing, seeing as how time escaped her. What she felt like was only moments later, she heard the clicking of a man's tongue break her concentration. She swallowed hard as she saw Rey pat John's shoulder, wishing them luck.

Once they were alone, John offered a half smile. "Deep breaths, Mare. Don't want you passing out on me."

Emotions rushed over the twenty-eight year-old woman as she saw the man she had been in love with for years across the room. Tears filled her eyes as she ran across the room, into his arms. "I wish I had never left you," she blurted out.

"That makes two of us," he returned the embrace. "Now how about you tell me why?"

She nodded as she looked up into his eyes. Everything inside of her was screaming at her to kiss him, but she knew that it wasn't the time. "It was never love between Randy and myself. We just ran our course and became best friends after that."

John chewed the inside of his bottom lip, sighing. "I think that I sort of knew that one."

She swallowed hard, taking a couple of steps back. "Now here's the real reason..." She turned toward the door to the family room and called out, "Marcus. It's time."

Just then a teenage boy walked into the room. He had his mother's hair and eyes, but his facial features looked more like someone Mary wished she would never have to face again. However, knew she would have to eventually and hoped that the man in the room with them would stand by her side when she did.

John ran his hand over his face. Everything had come together in his mind all at once. "Now I know what happened to you during the nWo days..." he said softly.

Mary winced, causing her son to squeeze her hand. He had never seen his mother like this, nor had he ever really had a man that he could call "dad" in his life, but he now had the feeling that eventually he could have that in John Cena.

"John..." the teenager spoke up, sensing that his mother needed comfort that he couldn't give her.

The ten time former champion snapped his head up to see the woman in the room falling apart at the seams. He rushed over to her, cupping her face in his hands. "I'm not going anywhere, Mary," the conviction in his voice was stronger than she had ever heard from him. He leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. He was still married, and he hadn't even spoken to his wife yet, but in that moment, he didn't care. He wanted to show this woman how he had truly felt about her all along.

"I don't think she's ever really dealt with it," Marcus spoke up as he released his mother's hand, letting John hold her in his arms. "I mean, I know that she's been with other guys since then, but that doesn't mean much in the long run."

John tilted his head at the words that had just come from the young man's mouth, which caused Mary to giggle softly. He looked down into her beautiful blue eyes as they sat down together, Marcus finding another chair close-by.

"I figured that under the circumstances, I may as well be as straight up with him as possible," Mary shrugged.

John shook his head with a laugh, "so this is why we're not together right now? You were afraid to tell me about this awesome guy?" He nodded toward Marcus.

"Marcus is a huge part of my life, John. I have already been through so much in my life, I just couldn't handle the thought of you rejecting me because of him."

Before John got a chance to respond, the teenage boy began fidgeting a bit. "Mom, can I get back to my game now?"

Mary laughed, nodding. "Go ahead, baby. John and I should probably talk in private now, anyway."

John looked up, shaking Marcus's hand before the teenager got up and ran back to the family room to continue his game. "I get it. Yet at the same time, I'm hurt. I was thirty-one at the time. I am very much open to the thought of having kids, and I don't think any less of you just because you already have one. No matter how old he is."

Mary nodded, hanging her head. "I know. I even think that deep down I knew that what we had was strong enough for you to accept Marcus."

"It still can be, Mary," John offered in a soft tone.

"You married Liz for a reason, John. Don't be so quick to throw her away just because of whatever this still could be," Mary bit her lip, studying his face before getting up and leaving the room.

…

January 29th, 2012 – The Royal Rumble

AJ, Kaitlyn, and Mary sat in Randy's dressing room, playing with Alanna Orton. The young girl already referred to Mary as an Aunt, and everyone knew it wouldn't be long before she did the same with the other two. This was a favorite occasion for many of the Superstars. Hometown crowds and family backstage. All of the coworkers considered one another family, but it was always nice to get to see their actual family members every once in a while. There was an eight Diva tag match scheduled for that night, but none of the three Divas playing with the three and a half year-old daughter of Randy Orton were scheduled for it. AJ was there in support of her on-screen boyfriend, Mary went to every event that featured her friends, and Kaitlyn had joined them simply because she could. The girls had fun hanging out with the guys whenever they could, and that night was no exception. Marcus was in school, so it wasn't like Mary was missing precious time with her son. Where AJ and Kaitlyn didn't really have anyone to go home to.

"I don't even know why I bothered coming," Samantha Orton laughed from the other side of the room.

"Because you like watching daddy wrassle!" the small girl perked up, attempting to mimic one of her father's moves, causing the four women in the room to erupt in laughter.

"In about twenty or so years, they will be crowing a fourth generation Diva with the title," Mary predicted with a smirk.

"Dear God, I hope not," Randy rolled his eyes with a groan.

"Hey, we can't keep her away from it. Look at how well that worked out for you," his wife pointed out.

"Plus, it's not like you can tell her that girls don't do it," Kaitlyn added, sticking her tongue out at her coworker.

"Put that away, woman. I don't know where that's been," Randy glared at the three girls on the floor with his daughter.

"What's that supposed to mean?" AJ pouted.

"Something that isn't for small ears," Randy teased the Divas, causing them to all gasp playfully.

…

During the main event, Mary was watching backstage on one of the monitors. She smiled as a pair of muscular arms made their way around her shoulders from behind. She rubbed his arms with a grin, "hey John." They had basically been seeing each other for the past two months since she finally told him everything. In the time, he silently made it known that he had chosen Mary over Liz. It was just that they hadn't actually said as much, not ready for it to be official quite yet. Instead they just shared an unspoken relationship. Stealing kisses and cuddles here and there, never really talking about what was going on between them.

"You look amazing tonight," the deep voice whispered into her ear.

She took in his scent, noting that he had just showered after his match with Kane. She took his left hand into hers, noticing that he hadn't put his wedding band back on, which caused her to bite her lip. She knew that could only mean one thing, and she didn't want to voice it quite yet. Instead, she just rubbed the place where it was supposed to be, letting him know that she noticed. "Thanks. Zack is okay, right?"

He laughed, pressing a kiss to the side of the Diva's head. "Of course he is, you know that."

"Hey now," she leaned into him, "I wonder with Glenn sometimes."

He shrugged, acknowledging her sentiment. "He is really good at pulling off the character, isn't he?"

"Did you see the behind the scenes stuff for 'See No Evil'? His co-stars were genuinely afraid of him," she giggled.

He nodded, rocking back and forth a bit with her. "I think that he did that for a more genuine reaction from them."

"Good point," she smiled. After a few moments, she looked up at him, "should we be risking this here?"

John shrugged with a small chuckle. "This is you we're talking about here, Mare. You've always been cuddly with the guys backstage."

Mary thought for a moment, nodding. "As far as most people know, we've been friends for years. No harm here."

In the back of Mary's mind, she wondered how much longer she could go on with the way that things were. She had been in love with John all of these years, but she had yet to give any sort of indication that she had caught him cheating on her when they were dating before. At this point, she wasn't sure how to tell him. That is, if it was really all that necessary.

* * *

><p><strong>So there it is! Sorry about the delay. I sprained my ankle about a week ago, and I was dealing with an annoying virus on my computer. Either way, here it is. Please R&amp;R! Then hop on over to my profile to take my poll about which one of my stories that you'd like to see next!<strong>


	17. Chapter 17

February 6th, 2012 – Monday Night RAW

The feud between Kane and John Cena had continued to rage on, and Mary had noticed something about all of it that it seemed John had missed. She asked Stephanie if she could interrupt the promo between the men that night. Her friend was skeptical, but granted her request. While the two men were verbally going back and forth in the ring Mary's music began to play. They both looked on questioningly as the Diva entered the ring and placed herself between the two large men, her back to John. She took his microphone and took a deep breath, looking to each of the men.

"I think that there is a bit of a miss-communication here. I'd like to try and help straighten it out," she looked to each man.

"Mary, what are you doing?" John's voice could be heard over the microphone as he subconsciously brought a hand to his secret lover's hip. Thankfully, it was interpreted as the "face" being protective of the female in the ring with a potentially dangerous villain.

"Just hear me out," she sighed. "John has started a 'rise against hate' campaign. Which is cool. Bullies are haters, and here in the WWE, we are very much against bullying." She paused, taking a deep breath, "now Kane, you want John to embrace the hate. Which is actually cool, too. Hate is an emotion. Anger is a fuel that can drive us in life. And let's face it," the Diva shrugged, "it's been a while since we saw you actually feel something, John." She looked back to John's face, who's expression hadn't changed. Getting an idea, she looked to Kane and mouthed "hit me".

Kane, understanding where the Diva was going with this, he raised his hand in preparation to strike her. "Stay out of this, woman!" Just as his hand was about to connect with her face, John grabbed his wrist. He shoved Mary out of the way and hit Kane in the stomach.

"You want an another match at Elimination Chamber, you've got it!" John shouted into the microphone that had been dropped in the chaos. He quickly turned his attention back to Mary who was being helped out of the ring by AJ and Kaitlyn. He nodded to the two other Divas before scrubbing his hand over his face in anguish over what had just happened.

Mary had gotten what she wanted out of that interaction, but at what cost? She knew the risk she had taken in doing it, but for some reason, she didn't care. Back in their dressing room, AJ and Kaitlyn shoved Mary down onto the couch.

"What the hell were you doing?" AJ shrieked at her friend.

"Making things worse for myself, apparently," the eldest Diva in the room sighed, slumping back.

"Cody is going to freak out. You know this, right?" She went to continue yelling at her friend when the door opened behind her.

"Mary what the fuck?" Randy bellowed at his best female friend.

"You could have gotten seriously hurt," Cody was right behind him.

Mary sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Well I didn't. I was being selfish, and it's probably going to bite me in the ass," she shrugged.

"He's already not wearing his ring anymore, Mare," Randy sighed. "He's as good as yours."

The eldest Diva in the room shook her head, looking down. "If that were the case, he would have actually spoken to Liz on the subject in the past two months. Which I know he hasn't. He's established a relationship with Marcus, but my son doesn't need another uncle. He already has plenty of those."

"You can't force John to be a father figure, Maryanne," Randy walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. "That will come with time."

"I know that, Randy, but we're a packaged deal. He can't be with me and pretend that Marcus isn't there," Mary looked to each of her friends with sad eyes. "Plus, until one of them files for a divorce, he can't have me. I refuse to be that girl. I am better than that." What no one in the room knew was that John had walked up to the door soon after Cody slammed it behind himself and had heard everything up to that point. After hearing what Mary had to say on the subject, he hung his head, turning on his heel and retreating down the hall.

"But Mare, you know that you're the one he wants to be with. We can all see it, baby," AJ pouted.

Randy raised an eyebrow, "I'm still wondering about you three."

Mary smirked, "looking for the dirty details now that Alanna is no where near?"

Cody coughed, "are there any?"

Mary rolled her eyes as AJ sat in the older girl's lap, bringing her arms around her shoulders. "Like we'd actually tell you."

Cody turned away, trying to keep his reaction away from the girls, causing Kaitlyn to laugh. "You two better cool it. I think that Cody likes the idea too much."

There wasn't actually anything romantic, nor sexual, between the girls, but they loved torturing the guys with the idea. Mary, AJ, and Kaitlyn just happened to be comfortable enough with one another to often look questionably cozy at any given time. It seemed that Randy had finally figured this out, seeing as how he was laughing at the girls and holding AJ's legs across his lap, getting quite comfortable with the girls as well. Before anyone could say anything, there was a knock at the door. No one moved from the positions they were in as Mary looked up and called out for the person to come in.

Stephanie McMahon-Hemsley popped her head into the door, looking around. She slipped inside, not letting any prying eyes from the outside get a look at the scene in front of her. She shook her head, smirking as she saw Cody's back to her, his face buried in Kaitlyn's shoulder, the Diva patting his head sympathetically. "Mary... you are definitely something else."

The addressed Diva perked her head up from the spot between her two best friends with a grin. "You've known me since I was like five, Steph. This shouldn't surprise you in the least."

The older woman laughed, nodding. "Well, I'm just here to let you know that your promo went over amazingly, and Glenn wanted me to check up on you. Which, I believe you are doing just fine."

Mary extended her right arm into the air, giving her friend the thumbs up. "The WWE universe needs a little crazy logic thrown at them every once in a while."

Stephanie nodded, "and you're amazing at giving it." She stepped back to the door, slipping back out. "Enjoy the rest of your night, everyone."

After the door closed, Kaitlyn looked over to the couch. "Mare, there's something else, I can tell."

Randy and AJ both nodded, Cody would have agreed as well, but he was still dealing with something else at the moment.

Mary took a deep breath. "I still can't shake the fact that John _did_ marry Liz. He made a commitment to her. Now he's just looking to throw that away? Even if he has loved me all along, marriage is a big thing. As much as I want to be with him, I can't simply look the other way here."

Randy nodded with a sigh, "I guess I can see where you're coming from there. If I were in John's position, I would hope that the other woman would be questioning things. Just like you are."

All three Divas nodded, Mary laying her head on AJ's shoulder. "I won't force him into ending things with her before he's completely ready," Mary said softly. She looked over at Cody, who still hadn't said anything. "Hey, you all right over there, Coddles? You want me to kick everyone else out?"

Cody snapped to attention, his eyes wide as he looked over to his friend. Not many girls could go from talking about the man they were in love with to offering another man sexual favors without missing a beat, but Mary was a special girl. "As long as you and AJ don't start making out, I should be fine."

The three girls giggled as Randy shook his head, "you're missing out, man."

AJ gasped, "you're encouraging her?"

"I know her," Randy chuckled. "She needs it, and soon."

The room fell silent after the last thing Randy said. Over the next few minutes, everyone except Cody filed out, all being needed elsewhere. Once their last friend closed the door behind them, Cody stood in front of Mary. She slowly looked up, biting her lip.

"You know I can't, Mare. I just..." he swallowed visibly.

She blinked, "I'm not asking you to fuck me, Cody. I was just messing with you. We've been friends so long that it could ruin everything. Don't listen to Randy. I mean, yeah... it has been a while, but I can handle it."

He dropped to his knees in front of her, taking her hand into his. "I couldn't just simply fuck you, Maryanne. You mean a lot more to me than just some animalistic need."

With that confession, Mary literally felt her heart breaking in her chest. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a slow, deep breath. "That's exactly how I feel about you, Cody. You are so much more to me than a simple throw away." There were a million things going on in Mary's head after that. Why was Cody saying the things she wanted to hear from John? Or why couldn't she feel for Cody what she felt for John? The journey for Maryanne Alexis Williams had just begun, and she wasn't sure if she could handle what was to come.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for checking this out. Please R&amp;R. Then hop over to my profile to let me know which of my stories you would like to see next.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry about the gap between updates. As mentioned in my new one-shot, as well as the update/ending of "And Then There's You...", I had suffered a sprained ankle, along with other injuries, leaving updating out of the question. But I'm back!**

* * *

><p>April 2nd, 2012 – Monday Night RAW<p>

In the two months between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania a lot more of the same stuff had happened on camera and behind the scenes. In amongst all of the drama, they had forgotten to celebrate Mary's birthday, but she shrugged it off. She knew they would get to it when things calmed down. The week after Mary had put herself into harm's way by getting in the face of Kane, John had a scripted kiss with Eve Torres. Mary knew it had been coming, but it had looked like one of the most real, passionate kisses she had seen in her life. After that they went from having an unspoken affair to just simply not speaking to one another.

Just after WrestleMania, AJ's on-screen relationship with Daniel Bryan had taken a turn for the worse. That night Daniel was supposed to begin treating AJ poorly, accusing her of holding him back and blame her for losing the World's Heavyweight Championship to Sheamus in merely eighteen seconds. However, no one knew where this was leading quite yet. All Mary knew was that she didn't like it. AJ was young and naïve when it came to relationships. If they were to have her go through something similar to what she just had, it was possible that it could be damaging to the young Diva's psyche.

Slowly over the course of the months, Mary slowly came out with the truth. She even went as far as doing an intimate interview with longtime friend, and father figure, Jerry "The King" Lawler, telling exactly what had happened the year she was thirteen years-old. It was after that when Marcus began showing up backstage at shows. Slowly, everyone became accustomed to what had happened to Mary, and had welcomed Marcus to the WWE family with open arms. She was starting to get happy once again. For the first time in a long time, Mary felt free.

It was the night after the biggest wrestling event of the year and the entire show was basically dealing with the aftermath of everything that had occurred. During a promo where Daniel Bryan began ridiculing AJ, Mary watched on a monitor in back, cringing as CM Punk walked up beside her.

"Certain things are still rough, even when we know it's fake, huh?" the WWE Champion patted the Diva's shoulder.

She nodded with a sigh, "I know that this is scripted, but I know AJ. This can be bad for her." She motioned to the screen where Bryan was continuing to talk down to her friend.

"She needs a real man," the Chicago native mumbled.

Mary couldn't help but smirk, "maybe a white knight? You do know that I'm friends with Stephanie, right? I can make it happen. It would be a sure fire way for you to get to know her."

"That obvious, huh?" he chuckled softly.

Mary giggled, "trust me, I'm sure that I'm just as obvious about who I want to be with."

"You mean John boy?" He smirked, running his finger along his lip piercing.

"See?" she giggled. "How did you know, anyway?"

He took a deep breath, "I saw you after his little scene with Eve. You were crushed. We aren't exactly close, so it didn't feel right to comfort you. Plus, I think that 'The Million Dollar Brat' had swooped in, or something."

Mary rolled her eyes at Punk's nickname for Ted. "It's almost scary how one of those three can be always be there whenever I need someone."

"You can't deny that it's good to have that stability, though," Punk nudged his new friend.

She nodded with a smile as her phone went off. She looked to see a notification for more hate mail, she rolled her eyes. "You'd think that a victim, like myself, would be getting a little more respect for coming forward with her story. I mean, why would I make something like this up? It's a horrible thing to happen to a young girl. Definitely not to be taken lightly."

"It'll die off," he assured her. "The good thing being is that now you don't have to worry about hiding it from anyone. It's just out there now. It's fact. They can either deal with it, or not. It's not really your problem if they don't believe you."

"I'm just still waiting to hear from family members, or you know... _him_," she still didn't like saying Sean's name, but it was obvious whom she was referring to.

"Your family doesn't know?" he was genuinely shocked.

She shrugged, "I was an unwed, pregnant teenager. The circumstances didn't really matter after that fact. Some of my cousins actually cared, but that's it."

"Can I ask you something that you probably don't want to think about?" he hesitated, but he had a feeling she hadn't thought about what he was about to ask her.

She took a deep breath, nodding. "Go ahead."

"You don't have to answer me, but... What if he wants to be in Marcus's life?" Punk tilted his head, knowing that it was something that Mary needed to hear.

Mary sighed, hanging her head. "A lot of things can change in thirteen years. I guess that I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it."

…

Later on in the show, Mary went to Stephanie's office. After being let in, she looked at to her friend with a smile. "Hey Steph."

Stephanie looked up to see Mary, returning the smile. "Hello Mary, what can I do for you?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you on behalf of Punk. We saw that AJ's line with Daniel Bryan is going South, so we were thinking that she has a line with him next."

"That's out of the question, actually," Stephanie looked down at her papers.

"Oh yeah," Mary raised an eyebrow, "why's that?"

Stephanie grinned, "you just missed AJ by a few minutes, actually. She had her own idea for a future storyline."

Mary tilted her head, "oh yeah? What's that?"

"A new and improved Chickbusters. Only a little more serious this time, and she wants you to be a part of it," Stephanie looked up after signing something.

Mary blinked, "oh wow, I'd love that."

Stephanie nodded, "we'll let you know when and what. It looks like you'll have to get them together another way."

Mary stopped in her tracks as she was turning to leave the room, "wait... how did you...?"

The older woman chuckled, "I've seen how they look at each other. But really, don't you have your own love life to deal with first?"

"Yeah... I'm working on it," Mary smiled softly as she walked out of the door. She walked to a room where there was a monitor, just to catch the end of John's in ring segment. She shook her head as she went to go back to catering when she saw John walking down the hall in their direction. She smiled, taking a deep breath. She knew that he had finally talked to Liz about everything, despite the fact that John didn't have the time to go home in the past few months, but neither had filed for a divorce quite yet. Liz was attempting to desperately hold on for the money while John was just waiting for a chance to go home and do it. "That looked like it hurt," she pouted sympathetically, referring to the "F5" that he had recently received from the returning Brock Lesnar.

John nodded, stopping to talk to Mary as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure I like where this line is going."

"You wanna talk about it?" Mary gave him a sweet smile, batting her eyelashes.

"My dressing room," he took her hand, leading her further down the hall in the direction he had just been heading into.

Mary nodded as she followed John.

Once in their room, John locked the door and sighed heavily. "Mary, I still haven't filed for a divorce."

She swallowed hard, sitting down on the couch in the room. "So I guess we're finally talking about this?"

He knelt in front of her, taking her hands into his. "I heard what you said the night we had that confrontation with Kane in the ring."

She bit her lip, "John, I..."

He quickly shook his head, "no, you're right, Mare. I'm still legally married. You deserve so much more than just being the other woman. Not to mention, you mean a hell of a lot more to me than that."

She took a deep breath, "there's no hurry, John. I'm not going anywhere. You have my heart."

He nodded, biting his lip as he looked down for a moment. "Is that so?" He smiled, leaning in a little, but hesitating, looking into her eyes.

"You can kiss me, John," she stated in a hushed tone. "Not much more, though. You know what the stipulation for more is," she wet her lips in anticipation.

He nodded, closing the gap between them. He pressed her lips to hers, just wanting to linger in the moment. It was simple, yet passionate. It was their first real kiss in years, and they both wanted to hold on as long as they could. Not wanting to pull away from her, he eventually pressed into it. They continued kissing, letting the moment get lost between them until there was a knock on the door. They broke away, frowning. "Yeah?" he called out, not even noticing that his hand had slid up her shirt in the process.

"John, it's Celeste," a voice from the other side of the door squeaked.

With a sigh, John got up, walking over to the door and unlocking it. He opened it to see the two-toned haired, "Hybrid Diva" on the other side. "Well hello there," he chuckled. He stepped aside, letting her in.

Kaitlyn blushed slightly as she walked inside to see her friend on the couch, who looking slightly disheveled. "Did I um... interrupt something?"

Mary nodded, "you did, but it's probably for the best." She got up, walking across the room to slip her arm around John's waist.

"Right," the younger girl awkwardly gestured. "So um... I just ran into AJ..."

"I do need to talk to her about something, actually," Mary laughed.

Kaitlyn quickly shook her head, "if you two want to continue, I can go tell her that it can wait until after the show."

Mary shook her head, "he's still legally married. He doesn't get this yet."

John sighed, nodding. "Cold shower tonight."

Mary smirked, leaning in to kiss him once more with a longing passion. "You'll live, baby." She turned to take Kaitlyn's hand, pulling the other girl out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for sticking with me. After reading this, I would love it if you made your way over to my profile to check out my poll. It's been edited, so there are more options now. Please vote!<strong>


	19. Chapter 19

April 3rd, 2012 – Atlanta, GA

Chelsea had been beside herself ever since she had been forwarded a link to Mary's interview with Jerry Lawler. She barely paid attention to wrestling over the years, but when she heard her sister's name in the news, she had to know why. After watching the video, her heart dropped into her stomach. Her father had lied to her. Mary hadn't run away with her boyfriend because their parents didn't want them raising a baby at their age. The truth of what had happened was so much more dark than that.

After finding out the truth, Chelsea wanted nothing more than to get her family back. She hated her father for lying to her entire life. Her mother was a real piece of work, as well. She never said a word either way when Scott said all of the horrible things he had about Mary. Chelsea had actually met Sean a couple of times, and had always gotten a creepy vibe from him. She just didn't know that it was for such a reason. After watching the video, the twenty-one year-old walked up to her parents and asked if they were going to keep lying to her. Scott just laughed at his daughter, asking if she was really so quick to believe someone who had walked out on her thirteen years ago. In Chelsea's heart, she knew what side she was on. She just needed to find a way to go to her siblings. She had recently lost her job, and she couldn't exactly walk up to the backstage area at a WWE event. So when she heard that CM Punk was going to be in town a couple of days after her fight with her parents, she made it a point to make sure she would be there for it.

CM Punk was already growing tired of the non-stop publicity. All he ever wanted to do was wrestle, but he never knew just how annoying all of the attention was going to be. At the same time, he didn't see why he was getting all of this adoration. He had read the headlines. Everyone had already forgotten his WrestleMania match. He was actually certain that more people were talking about the Divas match from that night, than his victory over Chris Jericho. Then there was the match that he hated hearing about six months before it had even happened. "Once In A Lifetime" John Cena and The Rock. It was just proof that talent meant jack in this industry. That match made Phil Brooks wonder why he even bothered coming back to the WWE. He was much happier in Ring of Honor. Had he just followed his gut, he would be back there by now. There was, however, one very specific reason he was happy he had stuck it out. AJ Lee. They hadn't really interacted yet, but they shared a mutual friend. Punk smiled as he went over the memories in his head of Mary, AJ, and Kaitlyn in the backstage area. There was actually one night where he could have sworn that he saw the girls looking at comics and talking video games. So when Mary had come up to him the night before, hinting that he should go for something with her friend, he found himself happy for the first time in a long time.

He had just signed a ton of autographs in Atlanta. Not exactly his first choice of places to go, but as the WWE Champion, he went where he was told. He had say in career to an extent, but in most instances, CM Punk was just a corporate puppet, and deep inside, he knew it. Just as he was getting ready to leave a girl walked up to him. He groaned inwardly, not really caring to deal with another fan that day. He just wanted to get back to Chicago so he could relax a couple of days before going into the house shows that weekend.

Chelsea took a deep breath as she walked up to the WWE Champion, noting that he didn't appear to be in the best of moods. "You don't remember me, do you?" she smiled.

Punk looked at the girl in front of him, studying her features. There was something very familiar about her. He just couldn't quite place her right away. He scratched his beard, "should I remember you from somewhere, kid?"

Chelsea couldn't help but giggle, nodding. "You haven't seen me since you were in TNA. My dad was there for a bit at the time."

He blinked, taking a closer look and noticing that she looked an awful lot like the Williams siblings. "Chelsea?"

The young girl nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "Look, the last thing I want to do is burden you, but you happen to be the first person from the WWE that I've happened to come across since I found out the truth about what happened to my sister. I don't have any money, so I couldn't exactly pay to go to an event. I just want to see my brother and sister."

"Well, I obviously can help you with that, and you're in luck, kiddo. I consider you big sister a friend, and I _want_ to help you," he smiled, bringing an arm around her shoulders. "I'm going to be leaving here in about an hour. Can you be ready?"

She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm already all packed. I got into a fight with my parents after seeing the interview."

…

April 9th, 2012 – Monday Night RAW.

As the program began, there was a girl in the center of the ring. She looked a lot like Mary, only she had honey brown eyes, and appeared to be about five years younger than the veteran Diva. After the music and the crowd died down, she looked over to the announcer's table, waiting for a nod from the men, signaling that they were ready for her to speak.

The young girl took a deep breath, looking into the camera. "Hello WWE Universe, I'm Chelsea Hall." She paused as as the crowd reacted, mostly positively. "Yes, _that_ Chelsea Hall. I'm here tonight because I haven't seen my big sister in thirteen years. It's been almost that long since I've seen my big brother. My whole life, my dad filled my head with lies about my siblings. My brother tried to tell me otherwise, but I was too young to understand. I was only six when everything happened to Mary. Two years later, Levi got himself emancipated and left home as well. He did his best to explain to me before he left, but... my dad is well... he's my dad." She bit her lip as she looked over to see Mary and Alex walk out onto the entrance ramp. "I've spent most of my life believing that my big sister had abandoned me," she continued as tears ran down her cheeks. "The girl who stepped up at six years-old because our mother was too busy to raise me herself. I was lead to believe that she didn't want to be around me anymore. That there was something else she'd rather be doing than being in my life."

She was about to continue when her siblings made it into the ring. Mary immediately wrapped her arms around her sister, tears streaming down both of the girls faces. Levi took the microphone from Chelsea as he saw CM Punk at the top of the entrance ramp. He smiled at the older man, bringing the device up to his lips, "thanks Punk."

Punk smiled, he knew that he had just orchestrated a shoot, but it was something he thrived on. He could have just as easily arranged for this reunion to happen anywhere else, but as the top champion of the company, he had the power to let things play out this way. He nodded to the only male sibling in the ring and simply saluted him before heading back behind the curtain.

After a few minutes, the sisters finally broke apart. Mary took the microphone from her brother, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry everyone. I'm sure you want to get right to the action. We'll continue this elsewhere."

The three siblings left the ring to a thunderous applause. They made their way to the locker room area, only to be greeted by their friends.

Mary grinned widely as she stepped away from her sister and into John's arms. She placed a light kiss on his lips before looking around to everyone and nodding to Chelsea. "Look at who Punk found for us, everyone."

Mary smiled as she watched everyone introduce themselves to her younger sister, noting in particular Cody's reaction to the younger version of herself, whom he hadn't seen in nearly fourteen years. She smirked to Randy, Ted, and AJ, who each nodded at her. After all of the introductions were made Zack excused himself, being in the first match for the night.

"Leave it to Punk to pull a shoot like that," Randy shook his head.

"I know, right?" Mary laughed.

"Lauranitis is going to be pissed," Kaitlyn smirked.

John shrugged, "let him. I don't think that any of us really care."

"I'm really going to need to learn all of these secret terms you guys have," Chelsea giggled.

Mary smirked, "they're not so secret, sis. There is a whole glossary up on Wikipedia."

"So does this mean you'll want to hang out with us on a semi-regular basis?" Cody perked up with a hopeful smile.

"Well, if my big brother and sister will have me, that is," Chelsea gave Mary a puppy dog pout.

"Cute, Chels," Mary rolled her eyes. "But c'mon now. We just got ya back. You think we'd honestly let you go now?"

"Trust us," Randy brought an arm around Chelsea's shoulders, "you're as good as family to all of us now. You are more than welcome to hang out whenever you want."

"Good um... because," the twenty-one year-old glanced around at the group. "I'm sort of between jobs."

Mary laughed, "say no more. We are all on it."

* * *

><p><strong>I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support on this story. Please R&amp;R! My next story will be coming soon. Which means that I have a whole new poll up. I just like the feedback to gauge what sort of interest I would get for each idea that I have.<strong>


	20. Chapter 20

**Since there was a bit of a gap between postings, I'll give you a quick recap of the previous chapter. Mary's youngest sibling, Chelsea, has been introduced into the story. She met with Punk after a signing in Atlanta, and he brought her with him to RAW the next week. After a tear filled reunion between the siblings, they offered to take the young girl with them on the road. This made Cody very happy. Now we continue with later that night, after RAW is over.**

* * *

><p>They could have gone to a bar, but that night the thought of loud music and smoke wasn't exactly appealing. So Mary, Levi, Chelsea, John, Zack, Sheamus, Randy, Cody, Ted, AJ, and Kaitlyn all gathered in one hotel suite. Mary was the only girl actually drinking beer with the guys, the other girls in the group had opted to buy a twelve pack of Mike's Hard Black Cherry to share. Typically, Mary didn't drink, so her friends were a little surprised to see her on her third beer. She was sitting on John's lap, in a chair, where most of the group had found places on the floor to circle themselves around.<p>

"Punk would be so ashamed, Mare," Zack laughed.

Mary shrugged, "I'm allowed to drink every once in a while. My child is perfectly safe right now, and I have nothing to worry about here."

"That's right," Randy raised his beer in the air. "To freedom!"

Mary giggled, "you and I are the only parents in here, Rands."

Randy blinked, nodding. "Oh, you're right. Now..." he motioned between Mary and John, "some best friends you two are. When were you going to tell me about this?"

Mary sighed, looking to John. "We really only started to actually talk about what's between us for the first time in months about a week ago."

John kissed her shoulder, "plus, I still need to get home to sort shit out with Liz."

Chelsea tilted her head from the other side of the room, "um... who's Liz?"

Mary bit her lip as Kaitlyn's hand shot up, "I got it, Mare!" Kaitlyn then took Chelsea and pulled her aside to explain the situation to the youngest and newest member of the group.

As the two toned blonde went on to give her younger sister the Cliff's Notes version of everything that had been going on, Mary looked around the room at her friends with a grin. "John gets a few days off after Extreme Rules."

John blinked, "I do?"

Mary rolled her eyes, "yes, baby. Without me. You know why."

John nodded as Mary finished her beer.

"More," she giggled rocking back in John's lap.

Ted blinked, "I don't think I've ever seen you drunk, Mare Bear."

Most of the room nodded in agreement as Mary got up and got herself another beer before returning to John's lap. "I don't do it often."

"Fuck girl, weren't you drunk when we first got together?" Randy laughed.

"Yes, eighteen and knowing exactly how to get what I wanted from a bartender," she smirked.

"So that's where your inhibitions were," Randy shook his head.

"Cleavage can do wonders when you want something," Mary shrugged.

John looked down Mary's shirt and sighed, "did you have to remind me what I can't have?"

With that statement Randy got up and took Mary's hand, pulling her off of John's lap. "Better put some distance between you two. I know how she gets when she's like this."

"You'd probably be the only one," Ted laughed. "We barely even made out."

Mary blinked, looking back at Ted as she took a new spot next to AJ on the floor. "We were also fourteen, buddy."

"Hey," Ted laughed from behind his beer, "we were cute then."

"We were," Mary nodded. "Especially looking back at the night I had to spend some time with Brett after we made out."

Ted looked down, blushing deeply as the men in the room collectively laughed, letting out a chorus of, "ooooh!"

Kaitlyn and Mary shared a laugh as AJ and Chelsea looked on in confusion until Mary made a little hand gesture, letting them know exactly what she was talking about.

"Did you really have to bring that up, Mare Bear?" Ted shook his head. After giving himself a moment to compose himself, he took a deep breath, "I have to know, though. Why did you end things?"

Mary frowned, looking toward John for a moment. "Well, first of all, I didn't want to put you through what I inevitably ended up putting Randy through years later. It only would have been worse with you. Then... I felt like I was forcing you to play 'daddy', Teddy Bear. We were too young for that."

"Wait, he's 'Teddy Bear'?" Chelsea giggled as she walked back to the group, pointing to Ted.

"So you remember?" Mary laughed as she saw Ted blushing once more.

"C'mon, sis. He was all you talked about for like years before you left. Of course I remember," Chelsea smirked as she tripped over her own feet and fell over onto Cody's lap.

"Years?" Ted raised his eyebrow as Cody steadied Chelsea, managing to accomplish not spilling a drop of her drink.

Levi nodded as he laughed at his younger sister for her clumsiness. "She crushed on you hard before you started dating, man. After she got you, we never heard the end of it. First boyfriend, first kiss. It was non-stop."

"I... I think I'm just going to stay here," Chelsea blushed as she looked back at Cody. "If that's okay with you, of course."

Cody nodded as he began to blush a bit himself. "You're just fine, sweetheart. You two are definitely sisters."

"What makes ye say that?" Sheamus chuckled as he sat down with his fourth beer.

"Mary is the only other person I've seen trip over her own feet. I don't know how many times I had to help her back up while we were living together," Cody chuckled.

"I don't know of anyone else who can legitimately hit their eye on a doorknob," Randy laughed, nodding in agreement to Cody's statement.

"You're kidding," Zack scoffed.

Randy shook his head, "I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't witnessed it. She was playing with Al at the time."

"Yes, yes," Mary laughed as she leaned into AJ, gazing over at John. Not even noticing that Ted had gotten up, walking across the room, staying silent. "I am a pro at many things. Most of which I will not address at this time due to certain people in the room."

Levi rolled his eyes, "John, can't you just like... magically get a divorce? She's driving us crazy."

Mary's eyes widened as the room erupted in laughter. "Levi!"

"Mary, I may be your brother, but we're both adults. I've accepted that you are a sexual person ever since that time I walked in on you with that one guy," Levi trailed off, trying to remember his name.

"I almost forgot about him," Mary laughed, shaking her head.

"If my brother walked in on me having sex, I'd want to repress the memory too, babe," Kaitlyn patted her friend's shoulder.

"I didn't know that you dated anyone between myself and John," Randy tilted her head at his female best friend.

Mary shrugged, "I think his name was like Eric, or something. He was in OVW for like two minutes after you were called up. He couldn't hack it... In more ways than one." She licked her lips, laughing.

"Do I really need to hear this?" John shook his head, covering his face with one hand.

"And this is why we don't get to share a bed tonight," Mary pouted.

"That was an option?" John perked up, wondering if it could still happen.

"Only if we kept things upstairs. Which I think has totally gone out the window. I know how I would be in the morning if more happened, and I think that everyone else in this room does, as well. Well... it could make me worse than most of you have seen me," Mary bit her lip, getting up, suddenly sobered up considerably. She walked over to John, kissing him passionately.

The room fell silent at Mary's words. They all watched the couple, intrigued by their actions. John brought an arm around her waist as he returned the kiss. When they pulled away, John bit his lip, looking into her eyes. "I couldn't do that to you, Mare. I promise to be good, if that's what you want."

Mary brought a hand to John's cheek, smiling softly. "I don't want our first time to be when we feel like this. Drunk and incredibly horny can happen somewhere down the road. I would like to sleep in your arms if you think you can handle it."

John nodded, standing up and hugging Mary tightly. "It's getting late now, anyway. All of you SmackDown people should get some rest."

Mary looked around, "this is my room. If anyone feels like they can't make it to their own room, they can feel free to stay here." She looked over to Chelsea and Cody, glaring at him. "Are you going to be okay, Chels?"

Chelsea gave the thumbs up to her sister as Cody held his hands up in surrender. "You know me better than that, Mare. Plus, you know I'm afraid of you."

"We'll make sure she's taken care of," AJ bounced up to her feet. "Now go get your snuggle on, baby."

"All right, good night everybody," Mary waved to everyone in the room before being pulled out by John.

Once Mary and John were out of the room, AJ looked around. "I think us girls will probably just stay here."

Levi nodded as he cleaned up a bit. "It's not like I'd let my little sister stay with one of the guys," he looked over to Cody, who happened to be helping Chelsea up. "No offense."

"None taken," Cody nodded. "I get the same way with my niece."

"Speaking of, she's hot," Zack said as he got up and darted out of the room after getting a death glare from Cody.

"That fella is really going to get himself into trouble one of these days," Sheamus shook his head as he left with Levi soon behind him.

AJ looked to Randy after the door closed once more, "you're worried."

"And so is Mary," Randy sighed. "She's never actually been with someone who really meant something to her. I was casual, and so was that other guy. There is no telling what sex with John will do to her emotionally. She had a hard enough time with me, but that's just because I was her first."

"Well no matter what happens, I know that I'll be there for her," Ted looked up. "I made a promise to her when we broke up, and I still intend to keep it."

"We all will," AJ nodded with a grin.

"Wow, when you said family, I didn't really think..." Chelsea blinked.

"It's different from your family, I know," Randy nodded. "I know that we're everything to your sister, and you can be that close to us as well."


	21. Chapter 21

May 3rd, 2012

Wanting John to deal with his marriage on his own, Mary kept herself busy with her friends while he was at home after Extreme Rules. After spending every night together from the previous RAW up until he left the morning after the pay-per-view, she let him go to do whatever he needed to do. She hadn't heard from John all week, so she just wanted to get away. On Thursday, she packed up Chelsea and made her way to Long Island. They met Zack's friends and hung out while Zack worked on the finishing touches for that week's "Z: True Long Island Story". Needing another thirty seconds, Zack got an idea while watching the sisters having fun.

He set up the camera and began to record. "I even have a couple special guests this week..."

The clip cut to Mary and Chelsea dancing and rapping along to "I Got You Dancing" by Lady Sovereign.

"So move from the bar to the floor. You lot do it do it do it do it raw. Do it in time to my metaphor. There's that dude that I met before. Oi do it like be distorted. Telephone him up real high yeah sorted. Tell a little lies what bear little porkies. If its all clear all clear to ignore me. I got you dancing. (I see you dancing.) I got you dancing. (Show me what you got.) Doing it d-doing it doing it d-doing it (yeah) doing it d-doing it doing it d-doing it."

It cut back to Zack, who was now doing an extreme close-up. "Yes, that is the Williams sisters. It appears that they can rap. The talents seem to be never ending."

After Zack stopped recording and began to get it ready for editing Mary laughed. "Did you really just refer to us as the Williams sisters?"

Zack shrugged, "I figured that it would be easier. Plus, I presume that the little one is disowning that douchebag as well now."

Chelsea nodded, giggling. "If I'm going to be onscreen anymore, I'd rather just go by your name, sis."

Mary smiled, "consider it done. I mean, as far as we know, we biologically have the same father. Kathryn just gave you that name because she was already married to Scott by the time you were born."

Zack raised an eyebrow upon hearing that bit of information from Mary, but decided not to say anything as he went off to edit the video.

…

May 4th, 2012

The group reunited for a house show in Oak Park, Illinois. Which happened to be the hometown for the Williams siblings. Some of their cousins were in attendance, which actually made Mary happy. This way, she could finally get in contact with the rest of her family. After the show Mary, Levi, and Chelsea walked out to the ringside area, where their family members that were in attendance had gathered after the main event between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. AJ was at ringside, having just observed the match. She smiled as she walked over to her friends as they nodded to security to allow the small group backstage to join them.

Once they were away from the fans, Mary took a deep breath. "Phil, AJ, this is Mason, Erica, Todd, Andy, Brian, and Ali. These would be the cousins that I've kept in touch with the whole time."

"That would explain why you're billed from Chicago," Punk chuckled as he shook each of their hands.

"We were born here," Levi chuckled with a nod as Randy, Cody, and Ted walked up.

Punk nodded as the other three men were introduced to the Williams siblings' cousins. "Well, I'm happy to share the hometown crowd with you, then."

"Well," Mason, the eldest of the cousins, spoke up, "we should probably get going. The family is getting together for a cookout tomorrow at Grandma and Grandpa's house. You three should come."

Mary nodded with a smile. "Definitely, we'll see you then." She took a deep breath as her family members left the backstage area and made their way to the parking lot. She looked around to her friends, "so... what are we doing tonight?"

"Well, I'm beat," Levi yawned. "So I think that I'm going to turn in early."

The sisters rolled their eyes, turning to the rest of their friends.

Randy shook his head, "we just wanted to see how you were doing. We need to get going."

"All of you?" Mary pouted.

"Mary don't," Ted chuckled nervously, swallowing hard.

Mary sighed, shooing the three former members of Legacy off, "fine. Go."

"You can come hang out with me, ladies," Punk said after the other three men left.

AJ raised her eyebrow, "no alone time?"

"Colt will be there, I'm going into town to hang out with him," Punk chuckled.

Mary grinned, bouncing up and down. "I'm in!"

"Miss him, huh?" Punk smirked. "What would John-boy say?"

Mary rolled her eyes, "if he had a problem with me making friends with guys, we would never get together."

Later in the night, the girls and Punk were sitting in Scott Colton's apartment. They each had a couple of sodas and the girls found themselves in giggle fit after giggle fit from the caffeine buzz mixed with the bag of Pixie Stix they had shared. Mary had a strange feeling from her brief encounter with the best friend she shared with John Cena. Ted's reaction almost gave them away, but Randy had ordered the other two to come with him, as if they were still doing the whole Legacy thing. Not wanting to get worked up over what could have been, Mary decided to have fun and enjoy the company she was with at that point in time. Chelsea almost questioned, but AJ was able to stop her, letting her know that it was best for her older sister to just not think about it at the time.

The group was just having fun, chatting and listening to music. Sometimes they would playfully play out and/or sing along to whatever song happened to be playing. At one point, Mary couldn't help but let everyone in the WWE Universe know exactly what was going on. So she pulled out her phone, getting on Twitter, looking to poke fun at one of her friends.

MaryWilliamsWWE: Having an #nkotb jam session with WWEAJLee CMPunk ColtCabana and the little sister in Chi-town.

MaryWilliamsWWE: Also, CMPunk knows all five steps. If you know, you know.

"So you publicly get on me for knowing one song, but you don't even mention how you just practically battled with Colt on 'Never Gonna Fall in Love Again'?" Punk scoffed as he looked at his mentions moments later.

Mary shrugged as Colt laughed, "it could be because I'm proud of knowing boy band songs." The other Chicago native teased his best friend.

"Either that, or John-boy is a tad more of the jealous type than what she'd like to admit," Punk smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Phil!" AJ hit him in the arm.

"Ow, hey... you _do_ hit hard," Punk rubbed his arm.

Mary sighed, shrugging as she sat back. "I haven't heard from him all week. For all I know, he worked things out with Liz, and they are going to stay together."

"So..." Colt thought through what he had just heard, "you've got something going on with John Cena on the road," he pointed to Mary, who nodded. "But he's married, so he went home after Extreme Rules presumably to file for a divorce, so he can be with you legitimately?"

Mary nodded, "I even got him the time off so he could take the trip."

"You can't just assume that he's back with her, Mary," Colt sighed. "There is always more to the story if you're willing to take the time to see it."

Mary smiled softly, looking over to AJ with a yawn. "I guess you're right. I'm just scared after everything that's been going on. I've had a really long seven months."

"And I think that it's just about your bed time, baby," AJ giggled, standing up slowly.

"What did you just call her?" Punk blinked, not having seen the girls together much.

Mary laughed as she stood up, "ah yes, this is probably one of the things you should be filled in on before you two get serious. See AJ and myself... we're close."

"How close?" Colt smirked from across the room as he helped Chelsea to her feet.

"Fake lesbi close," Mary nodded with a smirk.

AJ nodded, "we're just extremely comfortable with each other, and it's fun putting on a little show for the guys every once now and then."

Colt chuckled, shaking his head. "I really miss working with you guys. It sounds like you've been having a blast behind the scenes lately."

Mary nodded, "yeah, you can say that."

"You girls going to be okay?" Punk frowned a little.

"Yeah, we're catching a cab to our hotel. We'll be fine." Mary smiled at the WWE Champion, "I'll take good care of her for you."

He nodded with a pout as Colt walked the girls to the door, "there should be cabs right outside. There is a bar around the corner. Have a good night."

"Thanks for having us," Mary grinned as she hugged Colt and kissed his cheek. "We need to do this more often."

The girls got to their hotel without any problem and settled into their room. After Mary and AJ got ready for bed, Chelsea hopped into the shower. Once they heard the water turn on, AJ sat down on one of the beds with Mary.

"Talk," AJ took the older girl's hand.

Mary sighed, looking down as she squeezed her friend's hand, "I just... something was off when we saw Randy and the other guys after the show tonight."

AJ frowned, "what do you mean?"

"I think that they're keeping something from me. This hasn't happened to me before. At least not with them. What if Randy has talked to John, and he knows exactly why I haven't heard from him myself?" Mary swallowed hard, fighting back tears.

"Mary, you can't assume that the reason they didn't want to hang out with us had anything to do with John. It will only drive you crazy," AJ ran her fingers through the other girl's hair, pulling the covers around them.

"You're right, it could have been something completely different. Maybe they're working on setting Ted up with someone and didn't want to involve me yet," Mary laughed softly as the tears finally began rolling down her cheeks.

_Why would they set Ted up with someone else when it's so painfully obvious to everyone except Mary, and possibly John, that he is still totally in love with Mary?_ AJ thought to herself before carefully choosing her words to say to her friend. "It could have been a number of things, Mare. Maybe they're planning something awesome for you when John comes back. Like maybe he got you a cool gift or something," AJ held her friend close.

Mary nodded, "I just want some sleep now."

…

Ted sighed heavily as he sat on his bed in the room that he was sharing with Cody after they had gotten ready for bed.

"Wanna talk about it?" The younger man looked over to his best friend.

"Talk about what?" Ted looked up.

Cody took a deep breath, "something that I have known for years. You still love Mary, and it's possible that she feels the same way."

"I'm still processing the reason she gave for breaking up with me thirteen years ago," Ted looked away, refusing to acknowledge what Cody had just pointed out.

"I've known all along. I just assumed she would have told you a long time ago," Cody shrugged, letting the other subject slide for the time being. "She felt like sex was right around the corner for you two, and it really scared her."

"But I would never..." Ted quickly looked back over to Cody as he laid back against his pillows. "I love her. I would never do anything to hurt her."

"I think that being single took a lot of pressure off of her, though," Cody reasoned with the other man. "On herself, I mean. She needed it."

Ted shook his head in disbelief. "I know that we were young, but she could have said something. I mean, as is, I still haven't."

Cody blinked, sitting up. "Wait, you're a virgin?"

Ted simply nodded with a shrug in response.

"Not even in college? C'mon, man. You can tell me," Cody urged his friend on.

"I haven't even dated anyone except Mary. I just... I can't," Ted rolled over, not wishing to continue the conversation.

* * *

><p><strong>Bet you didn't see that coming... or did you, you sneaky sneaks? One thing to remember from this chapter is what Mary said in the beginning of the chapter concerning Chelsea's last name. Other than that, the looming feelings between Ted and Mary are still there. But what about John? Will Ted and Mary just keep their feelings hidden? <strong>

**Please R&R then hop on over to my profile for my poll concerning which stories I should work on next. Also, be sure to check out my other current story "Love and Blood". It's a vampire story with Paige and Corey Graves as the main couple. If you're into vampires and haunted type houses, this is the story for you!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Much like with my other current story, Love and Blood, I bring many apologies over here. I had been sick, and just had no motivation to update. To give a quick recap, Mary and John have begun dating on the downlow. Only their friends knowing about the relationship. After his match at Extreme Rules, Mary got John time off to go home and officially end things with his wife. In the mean time, Mary began bonding with her long lost baby sister, and they even hung out with Colt Cabana! All while Mary broke down, crying in AJ's arms a few nights in a row, because she expected the worst after not hearing from John. Now... we continue...**

* * *

><p>May 7th, 2012 – Monday Night RAW<p>

About an hour before the show was about to begin, AJ cornered Randy in a hallway with a very angry look on her face.

Randy sighed, "hello April, what can I do for you this evening?"

"Not funny, Randy," AJ poked his chest emphatically. "She's not stupid, you know."

"I assume that you're speaking of Mary," Randy scrubbed his hand over his face, looking down at her finger.

"No shit! She thinks that you're keeping something from her," AJ frowned.

Meanwhile...

Mary ran into Ted outside the locker room area and grabbed his arm before he got a chance to escape into men's locker room.

"Mare Bear..." he pleaded with her.

"Don't do this to me now, Teddy Bear. Plus, you know damn well I wouldn't hesitate following you in there," she dug her perfectly manicured nails into his forearm.

Ted looked into his former girlfriend's eyes as the physical pain she was causing him brought up the emotional pain from their past. He nodded, biting his lip. "Just let me go get Cody."

She sighed, nodding as she let him go. "Make it quick."

Ted nodded and ducked into the locker room. He found Cody and held out the arm that had four crescent shaped lines pressed into it. "We've got a situation."

Cody sighed, "let's go."

Moments later the two men emerged from the locker room, Cody immediately wrapped his arms around Mary. "I'm sorry, Mare," he whispered.

She roughly pushed him away, her blue eyes turning black from anger. "Would one of you mind telling me what exactly you're sorry for?"

"We don't actually know, Mare Bear," Ted hesitantly brought a hand to her shoulder.

"But we can take you to Randy," Cody continued. "He knows, and he may know where John is."

Mary nodded, running her fingers through her hair. "Fine."

Just as they walked up to Randy, AJ was looking like she was about two seconds from smashing the man's head into the wall.

"I don't know what to tell you, AJ. This should really stay between John and Mary," Randy sighed.

"Maybe you can say that, but you're not the one who's been holding her in your arms the past few nights as she cries herself to sleep because she's fearing the worst," the tiny Diva lunged herself at the much larger man, only to be caught by John, who had appeared out of no where.

"Whoa girl," John sighed as he set her down. "Maybe I should get a chance to speak before we go attacking anyone."

"John?" Mary bit her lip as she walked up to AJ's side.

"Mary?" John blinked, not expecting her to be there. "I am so sorry, baby. I didn't mean to leave you hanging like that."

"Well..." Mary took a deep breath, "you've got about thirty seconds to explain yourself before I sic my girlfriend on you."

John winced as he nodded. He didn't particularly like the idea of sharing Mary with AJ, but he was in no position to argue in that moment. "I didn't warn Liz that I was coming home. So when I got there, she had someone over. She was fucking another man in my bed. I just needed to process everything."

As she watched the look on John's face, Mary went pale. She slowly backed away, shaking her head. "I fucking knew it..."

"Mare, I..." John took a step toward Mary, but was blocked by AJ.

"I knew this was too good to be true!" Mary huffed as she turned and walked away in the other direction.

"What just happened?" John blinked.

AJ shook her head, "you just made her worst fear come true. You may want to keep your distance for now."

Cody looked over to Ted, who was now leaning up against the wall with a blank expression on his face. "Dude?"

Ted shook his head, "I've only seen that look on her face once before, and it was over thirteen years ago."

"Thirteen years ago?" John asked as the others sighed, looking away.

"I was the one who saved her from more damage than what that asshole already caused that night, John. He was literally about to go for more when I walked in. We kept that out of public knowledge, because I can't handle what the spotlight would do to me right now. The fact that you just showed that you cared about what Liz did to you broke Mary," Ted shook his head as he turned to follow Mary with Cody right behind him.

"What? You're not going, too?" John scoffed at Randy.

The other man shook his head, "she's in good hands. I'm your best friend. I want to be here for you."

"And you?" John turned to AJ.

The young Diva took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I have no experience with heartbreak, John. Mary's heart was just broken by her first real love in years, and that's just something I don't know how to deal with." She bit her lip as she walked off in the other direction.

…

That night Mary had a match with Beth Phoenix. In storyline, Mary was still in a feud with Beth and Natalya, which was perfect for the way Mary was feeling that night. As the two women approached the gorilla position, Beth looked over to Mary, tilting her head.

"Hey, everything okay?" Beth asked, truly concerned.

Mary shook her head, panting softly as she ground her teeth.

The other woman nodded, "hey, you can take it on out me. It looks like you are about to rip someone's head off. I'm more than willing to handle whatever you need to dish out."

"Thanks Beth," Mary took a deep breath. "I know that the person I'm upset with can take it, as well. But I'm in love with him, so at the same time, I don't want to harm him."

Beth smiled, "ah, guy trouble. I'll sell you sending him a message and take the hard hits. Its not a problem."

The match that proceeded that conversation was by far the most violent Divas match the WWE Universe had witnessed in a long time, or possibly ever. Both women were covered with welts, and Beth had blood dripping from her lip as Mary hit her new finishing maneuver that she called "Best Regards". First she did a rolling cutter (Cross Rhodes), but then she transitioned it into a snap DDT. All of Mary's friends were watching the match from the back in horror. Little was said until the match ended. John was at the back of the group, his face having gone completely pale.

After the competitors had been out of the ring for a few minutes, Natalya approached the group. "AJ? Kaitlyn? Could you two come to the Diva's locker room with me?"

"Can you please at least tell us if they're okay, Nattie?" Randy sighed.

Natalya just smirked as she pulled the other Divas away, not saying a word. Once AJ and Kaitlyn entered the locker room with Natalya, they were greeting by a laughing Beth and Mary.

"Message sent, bitches!" Beth high fived Mary. It was common in the WWE for on-screen rivals to end up friends over time. It was the on-screen chemistry that John and Randy shared that not only kept their feud going on as long as it had, but it was ultimately what caused them to become best friends in the long run. Seeing as how Mary and Natalya had been friends since they were kids, it was just a matter of AJ, Kaitlyn, and Beth bonding.

"Let's see them take us for granted after that," Mary stood up, walking over to AJ and Kaitlyn. "Sorry I didn't let you in on that. Beth and I literally talked it out right before walking through the curtain."

"Hey," Kaitlyn shrugged, "so long as you're both okay, we're good."

"Are you kidding?" Mary laughed, "I feel so much better now."

"Too bad he doesn't," AJ sighed.

"You may as well tell us who I just took that beating for," Beth sighed. "It'll stay between us."

"Just the five us? I don't exactly trust some of the other girls," Mary laughed.

"Yes, just us," Natalya brought an arm around the other girl. "So tell us who hurt you and how mad we should be at him."

Mary smiled softly, "John Cena, but take it easy on him. I'm just upset that he's actually upset that he caught his wife with someone else when he went home to divorce her to be with me."

"Hey," Beth walked up to her other side, "heart ache is heart ache. If it affects you, it affects all of us."

Mary nodded, "thanks. I guess this means we can all get a little more aggressive in the ring now. It's about damn time we send a message to the guys in the other locker room."

The five Divas all cheered in unity, loving the idea of getting more air time by doing something other than flirting with one of the guys. They disbanded long enough to get dressed and all left together, only to see Cody and Ted waiting outside for Mary, as well as Tyson Kidd waiting for Natalya.

Mary just smirked as she walked passed them. When Natalya walked by, she kissed Tyson on the cheek. "Do me a favor and cover for us, babe? We're all cutting out early."

"All of you?" Ted blinked.

"Uh-oh," Tyson shook his head. "Looks like they're gonna have a girl's night."

"Yeah, we're done here," Beth shrugged.

Ted waved them off with a sigh, "just go before Lauranitis catches you." He turned to Mary, "you better call one of us later."

"No problem, Teddy Bear. See you tomorrow," Mary smiled, blowing him a kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>There we have another installment in this uberdrama. Thanks for reading. Please R&amp;R! Then hop over to my profile and let me know which one of my ideas you'd like to see come to life next in my poll.<strong>


	23. Chapter 23

**So after a lot of consideration, I have decided that I am no longer going to be writing this story. However, I do have a few more chapters finished. So I will be posting those. Once that is out, I will write up a summary for everything else that I had planned for this story. I apologize to everyone who was reading this. However, I encourage you to check out my other stories. Then pop on over to my profile to let me know which of my ideas that you would like to see come to life next. Right now, you can check out "Love & Blood" and "Bad Things". Then be on the look out for "Shadow of Love" featuring Cody Rhodes/Stardust and two divas. Until then, please enjoy what I already have written up for you!**

* * *

><p>After the show, the guys didn't go for their normal night cap. Instead, Randy, Cody, and Ted gathered in one hotel suite as John sat in a corner, silent with a blank expression on his face. The others occupied themselves with video games and a couple movies. TJ Wilson, better known as Tyson Kidd, had even spent a couple of hours with them, watching a movie as they waited up, seeing as how his girlfriend was hanging out with the girl they were all waiting to hear from. He didn't understand why John was so visibly upset, but he also knew it wasn't his business to ask.<p>

At around 2:30 AM Randy sighed, looking over to Ted. "Isn't two the universal closing time? She did say that she'd call one of us to check in, right?"

Ted took a deep breath, nodding. "Just give them time to actually get in and separate. I mean, for all we know, she and AJ are..."

Randy coughed loudly, looking over to John.

"Kidding!" Ted looked over to John apologetically. "That probably wasn't the best joke to insert there."

John shrugged, speaking up for the first time that night. "AJ has a better chance with her than I do right now. They're probably having some sort of freaky three-way with Punk, or something."

"I highly doubt that Mary would actually..." Cody started, but was cut off by the sound of Ted's phone ringing.

Ted smiled softly, shaking his head. "It's her." He walked across the room from the other men, sitting down on a bed. "So how was your night, Mare Bear?" he answered the phone sleepily, putting her on speaker phone.

"_Ha ha, Teddy Bear. You can't possibly be sleeping. You're waiting up for me, and you're probably not alone,_" Mary slurred a bit into the phone, pretending to be drunk.

"Ah, so you're drunk. You know that you forgot to let us know that you are friends with Beth now. We actually took your match seriously tonight," Ted chuckled softly with a fake yawn.

"_Oops,_" she giggled, rolling over and accidentally falling off her bed. "_Fuck it all to hell! That kinda hurt. Oh well,_" she laughed, getting back up onto the bed.

"Did you just fall off of your bed, Mare?" Ted raised an eyebrow.

"_Yes, right onto my shoulder that made friends with a ring post earlier. Why can't John be here right now? I need someone to kiss it better,_" she pouted.

"You're not with AJ tonight?" Ted blinked, looking over to John whose expression had finally changed into a hopeful one.

"_Nope! We ran into Punker-Doodles in the hallway. They were getting all flirty and chatty. Which made me all pouty. So I left them. We actually got separate rooms tonight, anyway._" She paused, taking a deep breath, "_how is he?_"

Ted smiled softly, "well, he hasn't spoken much all night, but he does seem happy that you're not currently in AJ's arms."

"_You lose, Teddy Bear!_" Mary laughed, no longer sounding drunk. "_Hey Randy, hey Coddles. Not having too much fun without me, are you?_"

"Damn it," Ted laughed as Randy and Cody yelled "hi" to Mary in unison. "We've just been hanging out all night. None of us have even drank or anything."

"_Sucks to be you, then. But really... I just..._" she sighed. "_John, I know you can hear me. I know that I've hurt you in the past, but I do also know that it's not like you intentionally hurt me tonight. I just have this irrational fear that somehow just because a small part of you cares about Liz that I could lose you to her. I know that you're mine, though. You have been for like five years._"

"Oh look, he's smiling," Randy laughed.

"I'm officially jealous," Ted sighed.

"_Jealous of what exactly, Teddy Bear?_" Mary frowned.

"Of what you two have. I want that someday," Ted looked away from his friends.

"_You'll find it someday, honey. A guy like you has to find the perfect girl somewhere. And oh, hey John... I'm in 1230..._"

The other three men watched as John got up and made a beeline for the door. They all laughed as the door closed behind the oldest member of the group.

"Time for us to say 'good night', Mare," Randy called out in Ted's direction.

"_Okay guys, I love you. I'll see you at the arena._"

"Love you, Mary," the three men all said in unison before Ted ended the call.

Two minutes later there was a knock on Mary's door. She got up, straightening out her black camisole top before walking over to the door and opening it. She grinned, pushing her red plaid capri pajama pants down a bit. "I hope you're not always that quick."

He shook his head, picking her up by her waist with one arm. She instinctively wrapped her legs around him as she brought his arms around his neck. He took a step inside, closing the door behind himself. He didn't say anything as he carried her over to the bed. Without breaking the hold, he laid her down, his body crashing down with hers as their lips met in a feverish passion. Their tongues danced as she ran her hands along his back, pulling his shirt up. He chuckled softly as he slowly pulled away from the kiss, sitting up a bit and removing his shirt, tossing it aside. "You know that I'm not here for that, right?" he whispered, leaning down to kiss her once more.

She nodded, panting softly as she moved up to the pillows. She smiled as he laid beside her, facing her while propping himself up on his shoulder. "But you can't deny it's nice to get a taste every once in a while," she grinned.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a smile. "As badly as I want you, it doesn't feel like the right time to make love to you yet."

She brought a hand to his cheek, "then this means we've officially entered the hard part."

"I have no problem being patient, Mary," he smiled, leaning down to kiss her again. "I want this to be just as special as you do."

"You may need to be a rock because my hormones have been screaming lately," she pouted as she returned the kiss.

He took a deep breath and sighed, "I can think of ways to hold you off."

"Sounds like you have a little experience in that area," she raised an eyebrow.

He nodded as he reached between their bodies, slowly running a hand up her clothed inner thigh. Just as he was about to reach the desired area he stopped, looking at her face. "Never with her, though," he admitted softly.

Mary nodded as she inhaled sharply. "John," she whimpered.

"Mary, look at me," he ordered.

She slowly looked into his eyes, biting her lip. She began to tremble a bit, but prayed that he hadn't noticed.

"I'm not going to give you any pleasure tonight," he gently brushed his fingertips where the seams of her pajama pants met. "Judging by how you're body is reacting, I don't think I should, either." He swallowed visibly as he moved his hand to her hip.

"I'm sorry, baby. I don't know what's wrong with me," she pouted.

"No Mary, it's fine." He kissed her softly. "I think that since you're finally mentally processing what had happened to you it's effecting your emotions. Adding that to how strong our feelings are for each other, it may as well be like you're a teenage virgin on prom night."

Mary giggled at the analogy, nodding. "That did just feel like the first time that I had been touched like that. More so than the actual first time with Ran-"

John cut her off with a kiss, laughing. "How about you not talk about your sex life with our best friend when we're in bed together?"

"Sorry baby," she slipped her arms around him once more. "So I guess we get some sleep?"

He nodded, "I have a signing in the morning, and I'm sure you have to be at SmackDown even though you probably don't have a match."

"Yeah," she yawned, "I think that I have a match to film for Superstars, though."

"Are you going to be okay for that?" he kissed her injured shoulder.

"I'm more worried about my tailbone after one of those takedowns Beth administered on me," she sighed, shaking her head.

He shook his head, "you two were insane out there tonight. I believe that you raised the bar for the rest of the Divas."

"Good," she buried her face into his chest. "That was the intention."

He smiled, kissing the top of her head as he securely wrapped his arms around her. "Get some sleep, baby. I love you."

"Mhm," she mumbled as she fell asleep. She was more at peace and comfortable in his arms than she had ever felt in her life. Despite the fact that she still couldn't actually bring herself to tell him how she felt, she hoped that she could fall asleep in his arms every night for the rest of her life.


	24. Chapter 24

May 8th, 2012 – SmackDown Tapings.

Ever since Mary had come out with the story of the assault against her, everyone on the WWE staff, not just the Superstars and Divas, were understanding of Mary's somewhat emotional behavior. It wasn't so much that she was being treated differently, but rather everyone knew that there was a reason, so she was left to do whatever she wanted most of the time. She made it very clear to her coworkers that she hadn't fully dealt with the situation, so there would be times that she would just need to be left alone. That night, she decided to find a place where she could sit and watch as everyone filed in for the show, but not necessarily be seen herself.

Curious as to what state he would find his female best friend in, Randy went off in search of Mary after getting into his ring gear. Once he found her, he smiled, shaking his head. "You always did like people watching."

"I think he told me that he loves me as I was falling asleep," she stated in a soft tone, not turning to look at Randy.

Randy sighed, looking down, "it happened again, didn't it?"

Mary slowly turned to look at her ex, not noticing that someone else was approaching them, "I didn't freeze up like I had with you, but the nerves were definitely there. Seriously, I'm feeling like a virgin here. This is crazy."

"Whoa, I have a feeling I probably shouldn't have just heard that," Sheamus stopped in his tracks, merely feet away from the best friends who were obviously having a personal conversation.

"No, it's okay, honey," Mary sighed.

The Irishman nodded, stepping to the side of the Diva and brought an arm around her. "There is nothing written anywhere that everyone should always feel exactly the same way in any given situation."

Mary smiled, "I know, it just sucks."

"I'm sure John is being very understanding about it, lass," Sheamus gave her a little squeeze.

"He's actually the one who suggested we wait a little longer. There was no intention of doing anything last night. We were just talking after making out and his hand started to wander, then I choked," she shrugged.

"You are not the same girl I dated," Randy shook his head as he sat on her other side.

"Well, I'm not your toy anymore, Orton. I'm the next Missus John Cena," she grinned.

"You've really grown up," Randy smiled.

"That does tend to happen. Even when you spend all of your time around immature grown men," Mary stuck her tongue out at Randy before kissing his cheek. She then hopped off of the crate and began making her way toward the locker room area.

As Mary reached the Divas locker room, she was stopped by AJ and Kaitlyn. She smirked, giving her friends a nod. "Ladies."

AJ grinned, bouncing a little. "Our storyline has been approved!"

"Really?" Mary's eyes lit up. "So what is going on, exactly?"

"Well, we're going to be a more serious version of the ChickBusters this time around," Kaitlyn started.

"And!" AJ squealed excitedly. "And we're getting Paige!"

Mary blinked, "oh my wow, that's perfect."

"We've even gotten permission to do something that no diva has done since Lita," AJ grinned. "I know that's exactly what you've been wanting."

"We... we're mixing things up with the guys? I actually get to wrestle against men again?" Mary's eyes lit up.

Kaitlyn nodded, "only who we're comfortable with, though. Same goes for them."

"That makes sense," Mary took a deep breath, calming a bit. "So when does all of this start?"

"Monday," Stephanie walked up to them. "You're getting a first hour match against Heath, Mary. AJ and Kaitlyn will be at ringside. You will win, then after the match, the three of you will take out the members of 3MB together. After that, you will all get a break to do some build up vignettes for the change. As per the usual."

Mary thought for a moment, nodding. "It wouldn't be a statement for any of the guys, but it's perfect for us. We'll take it."

"Great," Stephanie clapped her hands together deviously. "I'll see you Monday, before the show."

"Now to break it to John?" AJ smirked as the older woman walked back to her office.

Mary laughed, nodding. "Yeah, that's going to be the fun part. I can see him being quite protective, despite knowing that I can handle himself."

The three girls walked into the Divas locker room just as Natalya was walking to the door with a sheet of paper in her hand. "Um Mare... have you seen tonight's match card?"

Mary slowly shook her head as her friend handed her the sheet of paper the other Divas had all just looked at. After scanning the names, Mary knew exactly what Natalya had been referring to. Cody had a match with Levi. There was even going to be a conflict backstage leading up to it. There was only one possible thing that could cause a conflict between her surrogate brother and her real brother. Her. Everyone knew it, too. Or at least, so they thought. Mary blinked, "why didn't Steph say anything when we just saw her?"

"Well, there's no actual script for the backstage segment, maybe it's just supposed to be as organic as possible?" Natalya offered with a shrug.

"I guess," Mary sighed, setting her bag down and changing into her ring gear. Without a second thought, she headed straight for the other locker room. She knocked, hoping that at least one of the guys were decent, so that they could come to the door.

Cody opened the door, almost instinctively knowing that Mary would be on the other side. "He's almost ready," he stepped out of the locker room. He reached out, rubbing Mary's arms as he kissed her forehead. They waited in silence until Levi made his way out of the locker room.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Mare? Your involvement is purely optional," Levi looked to his older sister with concern.

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't get in the middle of this," Mary shrugged. "Plus, it'll get my mind off of other things."

Cody and Levi shared a look before silently agreeing that they probably didn't want to know what Mary was referring to. Instead, they nodded, leading Mary to the area where they would be filming the segment.

Mary stood back, out of the way of the cameras as they started filming. She couldn't help but laugh as Cody and Levi spat what they could at each other. She wasn't sure that she quite understood where they were hoping to go with this potential feud, but she knew that it could be good for both of them if it worked out. She didn't pay attention to what was being said, but she looked up just as they started shoving one another, and took that as her cue. She rushed up, physically getting between them, extending her arms to put some distance between them.

"Guys! What's going on here?" Mary put her serious face on.

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Levi scowled.

Mary looked to Cody, who had visibly calmed down and dropped that hand before looking over to her brother. "No. That would be why I asked."

"Mary," Cody took a deep breath, "I should just tell you. He's obviously too upset."

"He's dating Chelsea!" Levi spat out before Cody could continue.

Mary blinked, slowly looking over to Cody. There was no script, so could this possibly be true. Was Cody dating her younger sister? "You're what?!" Mary screeched, getting ready to choke Cody herself.

"Mary please," Cody pleaded with the older girl. "You know me."

"You're right," Mary nodded, taking a deep breath. "I do know you." She then looked to Levi, just as he went to charge at Cody. Instinctively, she backed Cody up to the wall just as Levi was about to slam into the other man, slamming into her instead. Mary groaned in pain as Cody held her up. "Damn it, Levi!" Mary screamed as she knocked her biological brother over with a clothesline.

"The hell, man?" Cody shook his head as Levi got back up.

"We can't trust him, Mare," Levi started toward them again just as security and officials appeared, splitting them up.

In amongst the chaos, Mary was hit again, rendering her unconscious in the hall before John Lauranitis walked up and told the men that they would be in the next match.

Mary was able to wake up and get checked on before any of her friends made it down to the trainer's room. She slipped out, not wanting to be around anyone for the time being. She just needed to get away.


End file.
